Social Media

Supreme Court to hear TikTok's appeal against law that would force it to shut, or sell

Will consider free speech arguments just nine days before the clock runs out

Legal19 Dec 2024 | 40

Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp, Instagram stumble on and offline in global outage

Updated What's an influencer to do?

Personal Tech11 Dec 2024 | 30

Facing sale or ban, TikTok tossed under national security bus by appeals court

Video slinger looks to Supremes for salvation, though anything could happen under Trump

Personal Tech06 Dec 2024 | 43

Bluesky keeps growing, and so do its problems

Impersonators, harmful content and AI scraping are up, too

Software02 Dec 2024 | 82

Brits are scrolling away from X and aren't that interested in AI

Ofcom's Online Nation report drills into the UK's internet habits for 2024

Personal Tech29 Nov 2024 | 180

Australia passes law to keep under-16s off social media – good luck with that, mate

Also intros surveillance tweaks to protect very successful AN0M fake messaging app sting

Legal28 Nov 2024 | 84

Imagine a land in which Big Tech can't send you down online rabbit holes or use algorithms to overcharge you

China is trying to become that land, with a government crackdown on the things that make the internet no fun

Security25 Nov 2024 | 69

Study suggests X turned right just in time for election season

Significant uptick in visibility for Musk, Republican account posts from July 13

Personal Tech20 Nov 2024 | 187

Australia tells tots: No TikTok till you're 16... or X, Instagram and Facebook

Tech companies, not users, to be punished for violations of social media time-out

Personal Tech11 Nov 2024 | 87

Reddit CEO thanks AI for helping the site finally turn a profit

After 19 years of losses, all it took was a machine translation of its posts to get out of the red

AI + ML30 Oct 2024 | 16

Bluesky capitalizes on X woes with funding and user growth

The decentralized social network hints at sustainability with talk of subscriptions

Personal Tech28 Oct 2024 | 29

Elon Musk's X mashed by Australian court for evading child protection reporting

Argument that it didn't inherit Twitter's legal obligations did not hit the spot

Legal04 Oct 2024 | 77

It's true, social media moderators do go after conservatives

Because they're most likely to share crappy misinformation online

Personal Tech03 Oct 2024 | 253

Elon's latest X-periment: Blocked users can still stalk your public tweets

'High time this happened' says Musk

Personal Tech24 Sep 2024 | 36

No way? Big Tech's 'lucrative surveillance' of everyone is terrible for privacy, freedom

Says Lina Khan in latest push to rein in Meta, Google, Amazon and pals

Personal Tech19 Sep 2024 | 26

Telegram apologizes to South Korea and takes down smutty deepfakes

Unclear if this is a sign controversial service is cleaning up its act everywhere

Public Sector04 Sep 2024 | 10

Elon Musk’s Starlink won't block Elon Musk’s X in Brazil, as required by court order

Appeal panel upholds ban as Musk Xeets up a rage-storm

Legal03 Sep 2024 | 156

Musk's X, Media Matters headed to trial

The platform 'has provided sufficient allegations to survive dismissal,' judge says

Legal30 Aug 2024 | 116

France charges Telegram CEO with multiple crimes

Testing the idea that a platform boss can be responsible for the acts of others, or not helping to investigate them

Legal30 Aug 2024 | 128

Elon Musk reins in Grok AI bot to stop election misinformation

Because who needs yet another lawsuit?

AI + ML28 Aug 2024 | 35

TikTok isn't protected by Section 230 in 10-year-old’s ‘blackout challenge’ death

Want a bot to pick engaging content and immunity from liability? Sorry, no

Legal28 Aug 2024 | 80

Big Tech: Malaysia won't let us set our own rules and that's not fair and makes us grumpy

Asia Internet Coalition asks for rethink of social media licensing law with the old 'You'll scare away investors' line – a week after AWS opened a region

Public Sector28 Aug 2024 | 22

Facebook whistleblower calls for transparency in social media, AI

Frances Haugen says navigating the digital world requires a North Star

Software27 Aug 2024 | 14

Zuckerberg admits Biden administration pressured Meta to police COVID posts

'The government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,' says Facebook founder

Personal Tech27 Aug 2024 | 182

Judge acquits web dev accused of spreading fake news that led to UK riots

With a warning: Words have power

Legal27 Aug 2024 | 38

India shuffles away draft law treating influencers like real broadcasters

Online celebs might find that flattering – but not if it means a committee must approve their next livestream

Public Sector14 Aug 2024 | 12

Under-fire Elon Musk urged to get a grip on X and reality – or resign

Exclusive Chamber of Progress pens open letter pressing billionaire to behave better amid UK riots

Personal Tech07 Aug 2024 | 377

The cybersecurity QA trifecta of fail that may burn down the world

Opinion Malware is often described as biology. It should be the other way around

Columnists05 Aug 2024 | 32

Malaysia is working on an internet 'kill switch', says minister

Follows requirement for social media and messaging platforms to get a license

Public Sector30 Jul 2024 | 21

Kamala Harris has a long history with Silicon Valley that could help – or hurt

Analysis The presumptive Democratic nominee has gone back and forth with Big Tech

Public Sector23 Jul 2024 | 51

Anonymous 'ask me anything' chat app NGL ordered to knock it off targeting kids

Hitting youngsters with faked texts and calling them suckers is a bit of a no-no, watchdog sniffs

Personal Tech11 Jul 2024 | 9

Twitter grew an incredible '1.6%' since Musk's $44B takeover. Amazing. Wow

No doubt thanks to Vladi5555, KremLinda1776, RealAmericanPat22, etc etc

Personal Tech09 Jul 2024 | 50

Supreme Court orders rethink on Texas, Florida laws banning web moderation

Sites and apps aren't given a say? That doesn't seem very free speech

Personal Tech01 Jul 2024 | 21

Supreme Court won't stop Biden leaning on social media giants to tackle disinfo

White House can get back to asking Facebook and co to kindly bin off what the Feds say is misinformation

Public Sector26 Jun 2024 | 26

Researchers find Meta's withdrawal of misinformation tool hard to swallow

Feature If the new system is so good, why not onboard everyone who accessed the old system?

Networks18 Jun 2024 | 41

US Surgeon General wants cigarette-style health warning labels on social networks

Something like ... Side effects may include low self esteem, short attention span, and intrusive ads?

Personal Tech17 Jun 2024 | 31

Meta accused of trying to discredit ad researchers

As more than 70 civil society groups sign open letter slamming 'intimidation'

Personal Tech16 Jun 2024 | 35

Stanford Internet Observatory wilts under legal pressure during election year

Because who needs disinformation research at times like these

Research14 Jun 2024 | 85

Adios, accountability: X to hide 'likes' for everyone this week

Hello, blackmail: Posters can still see who liked their stuff even if it's a secret from the rest of the digital town square

Applications12 Jun 2024 | 44

Twitter 'supersharers' of fake news tend to be older Republican women

Tiny percentage of users make X miss the spot

Personal Tech01 Jun 2024 | 210

EU probes Meta over its provisions for protecting children

Has social media biz done enough to comply with Digital Services Act? Maybe not

Security16 May 2024 | 3

Hey, Reddit. Quick question. All those clicks on my ads. Were they actually real?

Advertiser takes super-forum to court after demand for evidence rebuffed

Personal Tech11 May 2024 | 71

TikTok sues America to undo divest-or-die law

Nothing like folks in Beijing lecturing us on the Constitution

Security07 May 2024 | 12

Prof asks court to protect his Unfollow Everything 2.0 extension from Facebook's ire

You've got to fight for your right to personalize

Personal Tech02 May 2024 | 47

TikTok ban could escalate US-China trade war, ex-White House CIO tells The Reg

interview Doing business in Beijing? 'You need to do a what-if scenario'

Personal Tech26 Apr 2024 | 167

Australia’s spies and cops want ‘accountable encryption’ - aka access to backdoors

And warn that AI is already being used by extremists to plot attacks

Public Sector25 Apr 2024 | 108

Senate passes law forcing ByteDance to sell off TikTok – or face a US ban

Updated Somewhere in Beijing, someone's screaming: Mother, PFACAA!

Personal Tech24 Apr 2024 | 87

European Commission to suspend TikTok's new rewards program, open second probe

For some reason the world's most notorious app decided not to tick all boxes under the world’s toughest digital law

Personal Tech23 Apr 2024 | 25

Australia secures takedown order for terror videos, which Elon Musk wants to fight

+Comment Yet X remains a supporter of The Christchurch Call, an international agreement to stop video nasties

Personal Tech23 Apr 2024 | 62

EU tells Meta it can't paywall privacy

Platforms should not confront users with 'binary choice' over personal data use

Security18 Apr 2024 | 73

Europe gives TikTok 24 hours to explain 'addictive and toxic' new app

Commissioner Thierry Breton likens click-to-earn version to cigarettes

Software18 Apr 2024 | 53

Devaluing content created by AI is lazy and ignores history

Column The answer is not to hide from ML, but to be honest about it

AI + ML17 Apr 2024 | 65

Thank the bots, your blue check is back on X

If you're popular enough at Elon's party, that is

Personal Tech04 Apr 2024 | 37

Indian court halts operations of government-run social media fact checker

Rights groups protested potential for sneaky censorship of political rivals

Personal Tech22 Mar 2024 | 1

Hong Kong promises its latest national security law is not a ban on social media

Trust us – we're the government

Personal Tech21 Mar 2024 | 9

Judge demands social media sites prove they didn't help radicalize mass shooter

Section 230 on trial: Plaintiffs contend social media platforms are defective products, not protected message boards

Personal Tech19 Mar 2024 | 95