Latest Apps News & Archive

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Thousands of Users Report Inability to Access Meta's Instagram and Facebook

That is according to Downdetector, which compiles reports from users at a national and global level

YouTube Takes Aim At Teens Bingeing On Body Image Videos

YouTube on Thursday said it tweaked its recommendation system in the United States to prevent teens from bingeing on videos idealizing certain body types.

Apps

Facebook, Instagram To Offer Paid Ad-Free Europe Subscriptions

Facebook and Instagram users in Europe will be able to buy subscriptions to use the social networks without being tracked for targeted advertising from next month, Meta announced Monday, to comply with tougher EU rules.

TikTok has 134 million active users in the European Union

Apps

TikTok Removed 4mn 'Violative' Videos In EU Last Month

TikTok said Wednesday it pulled four million "violative" videos in the EU in September, in its first transparency report since a new law against illegal and harmful content came into force across the bloc.

Apps

ChatGPT AI Getting Chatty With Voice Prompts

The company behind ChatGPT said it is adding voice and image capabilities to the generative AI platform long limited to written prompts. Capabilities being added to paid versions of the service allow users to have conversations with the AI and even "show" it what they are talking about, according to OpenAI.

Apps

Tech Firms Roll Back Misinformation Curbs Ahead Of 2024 Polls

Whether it is YouTube scrapping a key misinformation policy or Facebook altering fact checking controls, the social media giants are demonstrating a certain lassitude with being the sheriffs of the internet Wild West.

Apps

Amazon Empowers Alexa With Generative AI

Generative AI, such as used in the ChatGPT chatbot, delivers content as complex as a poem or scholarly essay in just seconds, and Amazon's goal is that Alexa could do that and even more with verbal commands from a user's living room or kitchen.

Apps

Latin American Fintech Clara Introduces Cross-Border Services, Expects $100M In Transactions By 2023 End

Clara is debuting its cross-border transactional services in its home country of Mexico, where customers will pay in pesos, whilst the recipient will receive the payment in the currency of their chosen destination.

Apps

'No Evidence' Facebook Harms Well-being: Global Study

The probe by the University of Oxford's Internet Institute, which analysed data from nearly 1 million people across 72 countries over 12 years, instead found "positive correlations" between adopting the social media platform and so-called well-being indicators.

News

Celebrities Are Quitting Twitter: 'Not Hanging Around for Whatever Elon Has Planned'

A number of celebs are abandoning Twitter after the Elon Musk takeover. Following months of back and forth over the $44-billion deal, Elon Musk officially took ownership of the Twitter App last week.

News

Russian Court Fines TikTok $50,000 Over Refusal To Remove LGBT Content

A Russian court fined the social media platform TikTok $50,000 on Tuesday after the app refused to remove LGBT content from its platform in accordance with an anti-LGBT Russian law.

News

New Twitter CEO Bans Users From Posting Photos, Videos Of Strangers Without Consent

As Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is replaced by CTO Parag Agrawal, Twitter instituted on Tuesday a new ban on sharing photos and videos of private individuals without their expressed consent. The move is to prevent further "doxxing" and harassment of individuals.

News

OnlyFans Takes Back Its Controversial Ban On Sexually Explicit Content

After receiving overwhelming outrage over the intended policy change, OnlyFans has decided to put its decision to ban sexually explicit content on hold.

News

Tinder Might Ask Users Worldwide For A Government ID For Verification Purposes

Tinder intends to introduce a new ID Verification method that will use government documents as confirmation of identification.

U.S.

Facebook Fired 52 Employees For Accessing User Data, Including Women They Like

Facebook fired 52 workers for exploiting user data, including men who spied and obtained their "crushes'" location data. According to an expository in The Telegraph, Facebook programmers and engineers were able to uncover women's whereabouts, private messages, and deleted photos by accessing user data through the social giant's internal systems.

News

WeChat Bans Nose-Picking, Lip-Licking And Spanking On the Messaging App's Live-Stream Content

Tencent published a list of dozens of common “violations” on its WeChat livestreaming service in a bid to clean up the app.