Page 5 - Social Media Apps

TikTok shows less 'anti-China' content than other rival networks: Study

TikTok has faced intense scrutiny from US concerned about the Chinese government's influence

Elon Musk's riot tweets spur UK to seek tougher social media rules

Not to mention large amounts of racist content posted by other X users that UK officials say has helped fuel disturbances that have erupted in isolated pockets across country, particularly in north

Now, Instagram lets you post a media carousel of up to 20 images and videos

Previously, Instagram limited the number of pictures or videos on a carousel post to 10. This is the first time that the limit has been increased since the feature's introduction in 2017

Instagram to make Views as primary metric for content across all formats

Creators will be able to measure all their content, regardless of format, through the same metric. The update will be introduced in the coming weeks

UK govt calls on Elon Musk to act responsibly amid provocative posts

The British government has called on Elon Musk to act responsibly after the tech billionaire used his social media platform X to unleash a barrage of posts that officials say risk inflaming the violent unrest gripping the country. Justice Minister Heidi Alexander made the comments on Tuesday morning after Musk posted a comment saying that Civil war is inevitable in the UK. Musk later doubled down, highlighting complaints that the British criminal justice system treats Muslims more leniently than far-right activists and comparing Britain's crackdown on social media users to the Soviet Union. Use of language such as a civil war' is in no way acceptable,' Alexander told Times Radio. We are seeing police officers being seriously injured, buildings set alight, and so I really do think that everyone who has a platform should be exercising their power responsibly.' Britain has been shaken by violence for more than a week, as police clashed with crowds spouting anti-immigrant and Islamopho

Malaysian PM's posts on Haniyeh's assassination were removed in error: Meta

In a similar incident in May, Meta restored Facebook posts by Anwar over his meeting with Haniyeh, saying they were taken down in error

ShareChat raises Rs 134 crore from Singapore-based EDBI; lays off 5% staff

Home-grown social media firm Mohalla Tech, which owns ShareChat platform, on Sunday said it has raised Rs 134 crore, or USD 16 million, through debt bonds from Singapore-based investment firm EDBI. With this fresh fundraise the company has expanded its ongoing convertible debentures round to USD 65 million. "ShareChat expands its convertible debentures round to USD 65 million, as Singapore-based EDBI joins the round," the company said in a statement. In April this year, ShareChat raised USD 49 million via convertible debentures in the funding round led by existing investors Lightspeed, Temasek, Alkeon Capital, Moore Strategic Ventures, and HarbourVest, amongst others. The company has also retrenched 5 per cent of its staff after mid-year performance review of the employees. When contacted, the company spokesperson said ShareChat launched its mid-year performance cycle and as a usual practice, some employees are impacted on the basis of performance. "This accounts for less than 5

US Justice Dept sues TikTok, accusing it of illegally collecting kids' data

The Justice Department sued TikTok on Friday, accusing the company of violating children's online privacy law and running afoul of a settlement it had reached with another federal agency. The complaint, filed together with the Federal Trade Commission in a California federal court, comes as the US and the prominent social media company are embroiled in yet another legal battle that will determine if or how TikTok will continue to operate in the country. The latest lawsuit focuses on allegations that TikTok, a trend-setting platform popular among young users, and its China-based parent company ByteDance violated a federal law that requires kid-oriented apps and websites to get parental consent before collecting personal information of children under 13. It also says the companies failed to honour requests from parents who wanted their children's accounts deleted, and chose not to delete accounts even when the firms knew they belonged to kids under 13. This action is necessary to ..

TikTok collected data on issues like abortion, gun control: US Justice Dept

In a fresh broadside against one of the world's most popular technology companies, the Justice Department late Friday accused TikTok of harnessing the capability to gather bulk information on users based on views on divisive social issues like gun control, abortion and religion. Government lawyers wrote in a brief filed to the federal appeals court in Washington that TikTok and its Beijing-based parent company ByteDance used an internal web-suite system called Lark to enable TikTok employees to speak directly with ByteDance engineers in China. TikTok employees used Lark to send sensitive data about US users, information that has wound up being stored on Chinese servers and accessible to ByteDance employees in China, federal officials said. One of Lark's internal search tools, the filing states, permits ByteDance and TikTok employees in the US and China to gather information on users' content or expressions, including views on sensitive topics, such as abortion or religion. Last year

TikTok's survival at stake in all-out fight against potential US ban

Outside Washington, the video-sharing platform is waging a parallel battle for public opinion

Lawyers, attorney, money: Inside TikTok's plan to dodge potential US ban

Outside Washington, the video-sharing platform is waging a parallel battle for public opinion

News updates: Microsoft says about 8.5 million of its devices affected by CrowdStrike-related outage

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IT ministry asks tech firms to find age verification methods under data law

They have to 'figure out' how they want to implement age-gating requirement, says source

Instagram's new audio feature to let users add up to 20 tracks to a reel

Multi-audio Tracks on Reels will also let users align text, stickers and clips while editing in the app. The feature is available to users in India starting today

Instagram to prioritise short-form content to connect users with friends

Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, said that the platform will prioritise short-form content over long-form videos as connecting people with friends is part of the core identity of the platform

HC orders social media platforms to ban accounts misusing Razorpay's name

The Delhi High Court's order includes measures such as suspension of access to domain names operated by unknown entities involved in these scams

Pakistan PM Sharif to decide fate of social media platforms during Muharram

Pakistan Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif would decide the fate of social media platforms such as YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok during the Muharram festival as the Punjab government sought a ban on them, citing the need to control hate material. Shiite Muslims hold large gatherings during the festival to observe the martyrdom of the grandson of the prophet of Islam. The Muslims generally observe his martyrdom as a symbol of resistance to tyranny, and the Shiite Muslims take out rallies during the first ten days of Muharram which culminate into huge processions on the 9th and 10th of the month. The Sunni Muslims have a historic theological rivalry with the Shiites, and extremist Sunni groups brand them as heretics and target them through bombings, with Pakistan witnessing numerous such attacks in the past. To disrupt communication among the militants, governments in Pakistan traditionally undertake elaborate security measures during Muharram, including suspension of

Pak to ban social media platforms for 6 days to control hate during Ramadan

After successfully blocking X, formerly Twitter, for over four months, the Pakistan government is now set to ban all social media platforms -- YouTube, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok -- for six days from July 13 to 18, citing the need to control "hate material" during the Islamic month of Ramadan. Chief Minister Maryam Nawaz's cabinet committee on law and order has recommended banning of all social media platforms -- YouTube, X, WhatsApp, Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok, among others --during 6 to 11 Muharram (July 13-18) in Punjab, a province of over 120 million people, to "control hate material, misinformation to avoid sectarian violence", according to a Punjab government notification issued here late Thursday night. The Punjab government of Maryam Nawaz has requested her uncle Shehbaz Sharif's government at the Centre to notify the suspension of all social media platforms on internet for six days (July 13-18). Pakistan Army Chief Gen Asim Munir has already declared soci

No more cooing: India's own Twitter alternative Koo calls it quits

Indian alternative to X (formerly Twitter) has officially shut down, with founders Aprameya Radhakrishna and Mayank Bidawatka citing financial struggles as the main cause

Meta to end ban on the word 'shaheed' on oversight board's recommendations

The company has been criticized for years over its handling of content involving the West Asia