On November 15, Peter Wang posted a message requesting ideas for a new incubator and fund to support experimental projects built on the burgeoning Bluesky/AT Protocol ecosystem. Four weeks later, Skyseed emerged with an initial commitment of $1 million. This turnaround, a speed underscored by the fact that the fund doesn’t even have a website…
Category: Social
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, iconfactory, mobile apps, Open Web, Social, social media, tapestry
Tapestry, a new app for tracking social media, news, blogs, and more, will launch in ‘early 2025’
A new app called Tapestry promising to unify social media, news, and RSS in one place, is nearing completion. Designed by Iconfactory, the same team that created the third-party Twitter client Twitterific back in the day, Tapestry was unveiled at the beginning of the year as a tool that could better organize today’s fragmented online…
AI, Apps, Artificial Intelligence, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Meta, Social
Instagram teases AI tools for editing appearances, backgrounds in videos using prompts
Instagram head Adam Mosseri is teasing upcoming generative AI features for the social app that will allow creators to “change nearly any aspect” of their videos using text prompts. The editing tools will be powered by Meta’s Movie Gen AI model, and are expected to launch on the social network sometime next year, Mosseri said…
dma apple vs meta, dma interoperability, Europe, Global Security News, Government & Policy, In Brief, privacy, Social
Apple and Meta go to war over interoperability vs. privacy
Apple and Meta are warring in Europe over the balance between interoperability and privacy, Reuters reports. The fight focuses on the European Union’s Digital Markets Act (DMA), a competition regulation that requires designated gatekeepers (including Apple and Meta) not to restrict rivals’ access to so-called core platform services. In Apple’s case, this means: iOS, iPadOS,…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, photos, Social, social media, Threads
Instagram Threads adds ‘Use Media’ feature for resharing photos and videos
Threads is introducing a new way to reshare photos and videos on its social network. Instead of quote posting the original post and then adding commentary, Threads users will instead be able to click a new option, “Use Media,” allowing them to just reshare the photo or video directly to a new post where they…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Social, supreme court, TikTok, TikTok Ban
Supreme Court to hear arguments over TikTok sell-or-ban law
The Supreme Court said on Wednesday that it will hear ByteDance and TikTok’s challenge to a law would ban the social network in the U.S. unless the social network divests from Chinese ownership by January 19. On January 10, the Supreme Court justices will hear argue about whether the sell-or-ban law violates the First Amendment.…
activitypub, Apps, at proto, Bluesky, fediverse, flipboard, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mastodon, open social web, Social, social media, surf, TC
Flipboard lauches Surf, a new app for browing the open social web
Social magazine app maker Flipboard is reinventing itself for the new era of the open social web. While the company’s original app allowed users to collect content from blogs, news websites, and traditional social media services like Facebook and Twitter in order to create curated magazines, its new app called Surf, launching into invite-only beta…
Aave, Arava, Crypto, Global IT News, Global Security News, lens, Lens Network, Social, Stani Kulechov
Aave protocol developer secures $31 million for Lens, a high-performance blockchain for social apps
Avara, the company behind Aave, Lens and Family, is announcing a $31 million funding round led by Lightspeed Faction. With Lens, Avara is building a decentralized protocol that could serve as the infrastructure for social and consumer apps. This funding announcement comes a few weeks after Lens unveiled a completely overhauled version of its protocol,…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Meta, scheduling, Social, Threads
Threads is testing a post scheduling feature
Meta’s social network Threads is experimenting with a feature that will let you schedule posts, Instagram head Adam Mosseri said. Users who will get to test this feature won’t be able to schedule replies. “We want to balance giving people more control to plan their Threads posts while still encouraging real-time conversations,” he said. People…
Bluesky, bridgy fed, fediverse, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mastodon, open social web, Social, web development
Bridgy Fed, a project to connect the open social web, is now becoming a nonprofit
Bridgy Fed, which is working to connect the social network Bluesky with the wider fediverse (aka the open social web), which includes sites like Mastodon and others, will be the first app incubated within a new nonprofit called A New Social. The organization, announced Tuesday, aims to bring together developers, researchers, startups, and industry leaders…
Europe, faecbook security breach gdpr, Global Security News, meta gdpr, meta gdpr security breach, privacy, Social
Meta fined $263M over 2018 security breach that affected ~3M EU users
Meta has been fined €251 million (around $263 million) in the European Union for a Facebook security breach that affected millions of users which the company disclosed back in September 2018. The penalty, issued on Tuesday by Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) — enforcing the bloc’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) — is far from…
dsa tiktok, dsa tiktok election security, dsk tiktok romanian election, Europe, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Social
EU to investigate TikTok’s response to election security risks in Romania
TikTok is now subject to not one but two open Digital Services Act (DSA) investigations after the European Union announced on Tuesday that it has opened a formal proceeding focused on election risks — and specifically risks in the context of recent elections in Romania. The probe will focus on TikTok’s recommender systems — principally “risks…
cambridge analytica settlement, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, In Brief, meta cambridge analytica australia, privacy, Social
Meta to set up $50M privacy payment scheme to settle Australian proceeding
Meta has agreed to a $50 million payment program to settle a long-running proceeding in Australia related to misuse of information for political ad targeting, the country’s information watchdog OAIC announced Tuesday. The settlement concerns the 2018 Cambridge Analytica scandal, when data on millions of Facebook users was exfiltrated without their knowledge or consent by…
adam mosseri, Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Mark Zuckerberg, Meta, Social, TC, Threads
Mark Zuckerberg says Threads now has 100M daily active users
Meta’s X rival Threads is growing steadily with more than 100 million people using the service daily, the company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg said Monday. Zuckerberg also noted that Threads now has 300 million monthly active users, up from 275 million monthly active users in November. While Meta has regularly released updated numbers about monthly active…
bytedance, Global Security News, Government & Policy, In Brief, North America, Social, TikTok, TikTok Ban
TikTok asks Supreme Court for a lifeline as sell-or-ban deadline approaches
TikTok and ByteDance asked the United States Supreme Court to block the law that forces TikTok to be sold off or banned in the United States, according to an emergency filing with America’s top court on Monday. The social media company requested that the Supreme Court consider blocking the sell-or-ban law passed earlier this year…
Apps, direct messages, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Social
Instagram now lets you schedule DMs
Instagram has quietly rolled out the ability for users to schedule direct messages. The Meta-owned social network confirmed to TechCrunch on Monday that the new feature is rolling out to all users globally. The option to schedule DMs will be especially useful for creators and brands that want to schedule outreach messages at optimal times.…
Apps, evergreens, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Instagram Threads, Meta, Social, Threads
What is Instagram’s Threads app? All your questions answered
Twitter alternatives — new and old — have found audiences willing to try out a newer social networks since Elon Musk took over the company in 2022. Mastodon, Bluesky, Spill and T2 are some of the social media platforms people are among them. So is Meta’s Threads platform. What is Threads? How do you create…
Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, Social
Meta put on watch over terrorism content in the EU
Ireland’s media regulator has put social media giant Meta on watch over terrorist content takedowns again — it issued a decision against Facebook on Monday. The Coimisiún na Meán said the tech giant would have to take “specific measures” to prevent its services from being used for the dissemination of terrorist content and report back…
Apps, Creators, Global IT News, Global Security News, Snap, Snapchat, Social
Snapchat introduces a unified monetization program for creators
Snapchat is introducing a revamped, unified monetization program for creators. The new program will reward creators for both content posted to Stories and Spotlight, its TikTok copycat. Previously, Snapchat monetized these two formats through separate programs. Under the new program, creators will earn revenue from ads displayed within eligible Stories and Spotlight posts. “With Spotlight…
Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, ofcom online safety codes, Social, uk online safety act, uk online safety act ofcom codes
UK’s internet watchdog finalizes first set of rules for Online Safety law
On Monday, the U.K.’s internet regulator, Ofcom, published the first set of final guidelines for online service providers subject to the Online Safety Act. This starts the clock ticking on the sprawling online harms law’s first compliance deadline, which the regulator expects to kick in in three months’ time. Ofcom has been under pressure to…
Cruise, Global IT News, Global Security News, Google, openai, Social, TechCrunch Week in Review, Week in Review
GM ‘blindsides’ Cruise by giving up on robotaxis
Welcome back to Week in Review. This week, we’re looking at GM’s decision to pull out of the robotaxi business, Google alluding to the existence of multiple universes, and how you can make some serious cash by getting an AI bot to fall in love with you. Let’s get into it. General Motors will no…
AI, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Grok, grok-2, Social, X, xAI
X gains a faster Grok model and a new ‘Grok button’
XAI, Elon Musk’s AI company, may be embroiled in an escalating lawsuit with OpenAI. But that’s not stopping it from shipping new products — on a Friday night, no less. This evening, xAI revealed that it has begun to roll out an upgraded version of its flagship Grok 2 chatbot model to all users on…
Bluesky, Global IT News, Global Security News, moderation, Social, social media
Bluesky is at a crossroads as users petition to ban newcomer over anti-trans views
Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. In recent days, a large number of users on Bluesky have been urging the company to ban one newcomer for…
Bluesky, Global IT News, Global Security News, moderation, Social, social media
Bluesky at a crossroads as users petition to ban Jesse Singal over anti-trans views, harassment
Now with 25 million users, Bluesky is facing a test that will determine whether or not its platform will still be seen as a safe space and place of refuge from the toxicity of X. In recent days, a large number of users on Bluesky have been urging the company to ban one newcomer for…
eu csam microtargeting, eu csam microtargeting epds decision, Europe, Global Security News, Government & Policy, noyb eu csam microtargeting complaint, privacy, Social
Controversial EU ad campaign on X broke bloc’s own privacy rules
The European Union’s executive body is facing an embarrassing privacy scandal after it was confirmed on Friday that a Commission ad campaign on X (formerly Twitter) breached the EU’s own data protection rules. The finding, by the EU’s oversight body the European Data Protection Supervisor (EDPS), relates to a microtargeted ad campaign that the Commission…
AI, AI chatbots, character.ai, discord, generative ai, Global IT News, Global Security News, Government & Policy, privacy, Safety, Social
Texas AG is investigating Character.AI, other platforms over child safety concerns
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Thursday launched an investigation into Character.AI and 14 other technology platforms over child privacy and safety concerns. The investigation will assess whether Character.AI — and other platforms that are popular with young people, including Reddit, Instagram and Discord — conform to Texas’ child privacy and safety laws. The investigation…
Apps, Global IT News, Global Security News, Instagram, Meta, Social, TikTok, YouTube
Nearly half of US teens are online almost constantly, Pew study finds
Nearly half of teens in the U.S. are online almost constantly, and the platform they’re using the most is YouTube, a new study from the Pew Research Center has found. The center reports that 46% of teens say they’re online “almost constantly,” and 90% of teens it surveyed said they use the Google-owned video platform,…