Social
Social networking shapes society and our news coverage reflects and directs that. We keep tabs on all the biggest social companies, including TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snapchat and Reddit, as well as funding and acquisitions of new social startups.
Instagram is introducing the ability for users to broadcast live to just their Close Friends list, the company announced on Thursday. The new “Close Friends on Live” feature allows users…
Roots is designed to help people get a better handle on what sort of apps are worth spending time on and which are not.
Former Snap engineer launches Butterflies, a social network where AIs and humans coexist
Butterflies wants to let users create AI personas that then take on their own lives and coexist with others.
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. Apple’s Worldwide Developers Conference had…
There has been a lot of bad news about social media startups lately. Multiple companies, including Twitter alternative Post News, and IRL have shut down. And ShareChat’s valuation has dropped…
Meta pauses plans to train AI using European users’ data, bowing to regulatory pressure
Meta has confirmed that it will pause plans to start training its AI systems using data from its users in the European Union and U.K. The move follows pushback from…
WhatsApp adds new features to the calling experience, including support for 32-person video calls
WhatsApp updated the video calling experience across devices on Thursday by introducing screen sharing with audio support and a new speaker spotlight feature. It’s also increasing the limit for video…
LinkedIn is launching new AI tools to help you look for jobs, write cover letters and job applications, personalize learning, and a new search experience.
TikTok comes for Google as it quietly rolls out image search capabilities in TikTok Shop
After leading the social media landscape, TikTok appears to be interested in challenging Google’s dominance in search. The company confirmed to TechCrunch that it’s testing the ability for users to…
BeReal is being acquired by mobile apps and games company Voodoo for €500M
The acquisition comes as BeReal was struggling to grow its user base and was looking for a buyer.
New York moves to limit kids’ access to ‘addictive feeds’
New York’s state legislature has passed a bill that would prohibit social media companies from showing “addictive feeds” to children under 18, unless they obtain parental consent. The Stop Addictive…
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. There’s more bad news for…
Meta is quietly rolling out a new “Communities” feature on Messenger, the company confirmed to TechCrunch. The feature is designed to help organizations, schools and other private groups communicate in…
Featured Article
A social app for creatives, Cara grew from 40k to 650k users in a week because artists are fed up with Meta’s AI policies
Artists have finally had enough with Meta’s predatory AI policies, but Meta’s loss is Cara’s gain. An artist-run, anti-AI social platform, Cara has grown from 40,000 to 650,000 users within the last week, catapulting it to the top of the App Store charts. Instagram is a necessity for many artists,…
Welcome to Elon Musk’s X. The social network formerly known as Twitter where the rules are made up and the check marks don’t matter. Or do they? The Tesla and…
Bluesky and Mastodon users can now talk to each other with Bridgy Fed
Bridgy Fed is one of the efforts aimed at connecting the fediverse with the web, Bluesky and, perhaps later, other networks like Nostr.
Cameo fumbles on Ms. Rachel fundraiser as fans receive credits instead of videos
Ms. Rachel isn’t a household name, but if you spend a lot of time with toddlers, she might as well be a rockstar. She’s like Steve from Blues Clues for…
The malicious attack appears to have involved malware transmitted through TikTok’s DMs.
Instagram Threads is rolling out the ability for users to signal which sort of posts they wanted to see more or less of by swiping.
Malicious actors are abusing generative AI music tools to create homophobic, racist, and propagandistic songs — and publishing guides instructing others how to do so as well. According to ActiveFence,…
The change would see Instagram becoming more like the free version of YouTube, which requires users to view ads before and in the middle of watching videos.
X will now allow users to post consensually produced NSFW content as long as it is prominently labeled as such.
Less than one year after its iOS launch, French startup ten ten has gone viral with a walkie talkie app that allows teens to send voice messages to their close…
Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump now has an account on the short-form video app that he once tried to ban. Trump’s TikTok account, which launched on Saturday night, features…
Welcome back to TechCrunch’s Week in Review — TechCrunch’s newsletter recapping the week’s biggest news. Want it in your inbox every Saturday? Sign up here. Over the past eight years,…
Tumblr officially shut down “Tips,” an opt-in feature where creators could receive one-time payments from their followers. As of today, the tipping icon has automatically disappeared from all posts and…
Yes, we’re calling it “ThreadsDeck” now. At least that’s the tag many are using to describe the new user interface for Instagram’s X competitor, Threads, which resembles the column-based format…
Instagram tests ‘trial reels’ that don’t display to a creator’s followers
Instagram is testing a way for creators to experiment with reels without committing to having them displayed on their profiles, giving the social network a possible edge over TikTok and…
Canva’s rap battle is part of a long legacy of Silicon Valley cringe
You thought the hottest rap battle of the summer was between Kendrick Lamar and Drake. You were wrong. It’s between Canva and an enterprise CIO. At its Canva Create event…
Spain bans Meta from launching election features on Facebook, Instagram over privacy fears
Meta has been banned from launching features on Facebook and Instagram that would have collected data on voters in Spain using the social networks ahead of next month’s European Elections.…
