Social

Twitter on Friday made public parts of the computer code that decides how the social media site recommends content, allowing users and programmers a peek into its workings and the ability to suggest modifications to the algorithm. The company said in a blog post it uploaded the code in two repositories on code-sharing platform Github.

Elon Musk on Friday defended his controversial pay model for Twitter, claiming that any social media platform that didn’t follow suit would fail because they would be swarmed by bots. Musk made his prediction on the eve of Twitter’s April 1 ultimatum that verified accounts with the cherished blue tick that had not forked over

A US judge on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit against Meta Platforms Inc that alleged its Facebook social media business drove a now-defunct photo software application startup out of business in violation of federal antitrust law. US District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto in Brooklyn, New York, federal court said in her 67-page order that Phhhoto Inc had

Some parts of Twitter’s source code have been leaked and the social media platform owned by billionaire Elon Musk is seeking information on the person responsible, a legal filing showed. According to the filing, “various excerpts” of Twitter’s source code, which is used to run the company online, were posted on Github, a Microsoft-owned platform

US House of Representatives Speaker Kevin McCarthy said on Sunday lawmakers will move forward with legislation to address national security worries about TikTok, alleging China’s government had access to the short video app’s user data. In the United States, there are growing calls to ban TikTok, owned by China-based company ByteDance, or to pass bipartisan

Meta Platforms and Alphabet Google appeared before Brazil’s Supreme Court on Tuesday to defend a law that says internet companies are not responsible for content that users post unless the companies are subject to a court order. The companies are appealing a 2017 lawsuit by a Brazilian woman who wanted Facebook to remove a profile and

Microsoft has launched a redesigned Teams application that is claimed to be more responsive and user-friendly. On Monday, the company announced that Teams users can expect a revamped app that is up to two times faster than its current version, with functions such as launching the programme and connecting to video calls taking half the

Facebook owner Meta Platforms is planning to lower bonus pays for some employees, and assess staff performance more frequently, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, citing an internal memo. Employees of the social media giant, who get a rating of “met most expectations” in their 2023 year-end reviews, will receive a smaller percentage of

WhatsApp has long been reported to be working on an edit message feature for all versions of its application. Like with deleted messages, an edited message will appear with an ‘edited’ label, visible to all participants in a chat. Reports since last year have suggested that work on this particular feature has been under development

Twitter CEO Elon Musk on Tuesday announced that only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations and also revealed the reason behind it. Musk’s tweet stated, “Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations. The is the only realistic way to address advanced AI

WhatsApp is reportedly working on a dedicated Audio Chat feature. The Meta-owned instant messaging platform has been spotted working on a new voice-related feature on the latest WhatsApp Beta update for Android. While the feature is not currently available to beta testers, the company has been seen developing new functionality and tweaking older features in

Cyber criminals are exploiting popularity of ChatGPT to spread malware through hijacked Facebook accounts, cyber intelligence firm CloudSEK said on Monday. CloudSEK in its investigation has found the presence of 13 Facebook pages or accounts including those with Indian content, totalling over 5 lakh followers, that have been compromised and are being used to disseminate

Twitter CEO Elon Musk has offered the social-media company’s employees stock grants at a valuation of nearly $20 billion (roughly Rs. 1,64,600 crore), the Information reported on Saturday, citing a person familiar with an email Musk sent to Twitter staff. The reported valuation is less than half of the $44 billion (roughly Rs. 3,62,100 crore)

Britain’s parliament will block TikTok on all devices on its network following a similar ban on government devices, becoming the latest Western institution to bar the Chinese-owned video app over security concerns. A TikTok spokesperson called the action “misguided”, saying it was based on fundamental misconceptions about the company. “Following the government’s decision to ban

A massive data breach that has implications for national security was unearthed by Cyberabad Police here, who arrested seven people of a gang allegedly involved in the theft and sale of sensitive data of the government and important organisations, including details of 2.55 lakh defence personnel as well as the personal and confidential data of

Microsoft’s initial offer to address EU antitrust complaints filed by rivals is insufficient and the US software giant needs to do more, German software provider Nextcloud said, as regulators consider whether to open a formal investigation. French cloud computing services provider and complainant OVHcloud is also waiting for a more concrete proposal from Microsoft, a person

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew testified before the House Energy and Commerce Committee on March 23, 2023, amid a chorus of calls from members of Congress for the federal government to ban the Chinese-owned video social media app and reports that the Biden administration is pushing for the company’s sale. The federal government, along with

WhatsApp appears to developing a new short video message feature according to a report. The purported feature will let WhatsApp’s estimated 2.24 billion users record short video messages of up to 60 seconds to share with contacts within their chats. While the feature is in development, it cannot be tested by users on the beta

Twitter might be testing an option to let its blue tick buyers choose if they wish to display their verification badges or hide it. As Twitter gears up to remove legacy blue ticks starting April 1, it is rolling out more profile customisation features for people who have paid to get their blue ticks as

France will ban the use of Chinese-owned video-sharing app TikTok on the work phones of civil servants, Civil Service Minister Stanislas Guerini said on his Twitter account. “In order to guarantee the cybersecurity of our administrations and civil servants, the government has decided to ban recreational applications such as TikTok on the professional phones of

China insisted Friday it does not ask companies to hand over data gathered overseas, as the Chinese-owned TikTok faces mounting calls for a ban in the United States. Pressure is building on the massively popular video-sharing app — owned by the Chinese firm Bytedance — to obtain new ownership or lose access to the enormous

Twitter will begin removing so-called legacy verified marks from user accounts next week, as it works toward a model where only paid subscribers and members of approved organisations have that status. The move to strike legacy verification begins April 1, the San Francisco-based company said in a tweet Thursday. It’s one of the earliest policy

US lawmakers at a congressional hearing on Thursday accused TikTok of serving harmful content and inflicting “emotional distress” on young users, grilling the Chinese-owned app’s CEO on the company’s outsized influence on teens. Representative Cathy McMorris Rodgers, a Republican from Washington, kicked off the hearing with TikTok Chief Executive Shou Zi Chew saying that within minutes of

WhatsApp Desktop, the Meta-owned messaging service’s app for Windows, has received a new update. The newest version of the app is said to load faster and improve group audio and video calls. The company says that users can now invite more people to group calls. The new WhatsApp desktop app for Windows features an interface

TikTok was banned in India in 2020, along with several other applications, following border tensions with China nearly three years ago. The app, which was popular among users before it was banned, continues to retain information on its users from India who can no longer access the video sharing platform, according to a report. TikTok

Instagram is rolling out a new Reminder Ads feature in ads, along with testing another feature to bring ads to the search results category. Advertisements and subscriptions are the two main forms of income for these social media platforms. Meta recently introduced a paid subscription service in the US called Meta Verified. Seemingly, free Instagram

On Tuesday, Mark Zuckerberg announced two new updates for WhatsApp groups. With the new updates, admins will get more control over their group privacy. These changes follow some updates made over the last few months, including making groups larger, and giving admins the ability to delete messages sent in the groups they manage. “Groups continue

TikTok said on Monday the short-video sharing app now has 150 million monthly active users in the US, up from 100 million it said it had in 2020. The Chinese-owned app confirmed the figure ahead of TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew’s testimony set for Thursday before the House Energy and Commerce Committee. On Friday, six

TikTok CEO Shou Zi Chew said the Chinese-owned short video app company faces a pivotal moment as a growing number of US lawmakers seek to ban the popular app over national security concerns. Chew said in a video posted on TikTok early Tuesday the app now has more than 150 million active monthly US users. “That’s almost

Twitter is reportedly testing a feature that allows subscribers to submit government ID to have their profiles verified on the platform. Analysis of the Android version of the app shows the company is working on the ability to submit images of the front and rear sides of a document proving a user’s identity, along with