TikTok stars got a judge to block Trump’s TikTok ban

TikTok has won another battle in its fight against the Trump administration’s ban of its video-sharing app in the U.S. — or, more accurately in this case, the TikTok community won a battle. On Friday, a federal judge in Pennsylvania issued an injunction that blocked the restrictions that would have otherwise blocked TikTok from operating in the U.S. on November 12. This particular lawsuit was not led by TikTok itself, but rather a group of TikTok...

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Facebook hits pause on algorithmic recommendations for political and social issue groups

With just days to go before the U.S. election, Facebook quietly suspended one of its most worrisome features. During Wednesday’s Senate hearing, Senator Ed Markey asked Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg about reports that his company has long known its group recommendations push people toward more extreme content. Zuckerberg responded that the company had actually disabled that feature for certain groups — a fact Facebook had not previously announced. “Senator,...

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Facebook is limiting distribution of ‘save our children’ hashtag over QAnon ties

Facebook today confirmed that it will be limiting the distribution of the hashtag “save our children.” Over the past several months, the phrase — and ones like it — have become associated with QAnon. These terms have served to provide a kind of innocuous cover for the popular online conspiracy theory. A spokesperson for the social network confirmed the move today, noting that child safety resources will be prioritized in search above those potentially...

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WhatsApp is now delivering roughly 100 billion messages a day

WhatsApp, the popular instant messaging app owned by Facebook, is now delivering roughly 100 billion messages a day, the company’s chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said at the quarterly earnings call Thursday. For some perspective, users exchanged 100 billion messages on WhatsApp last New Year’s Eve. That is the day when WhatsApp tops its engagement figures, and as many of you may remember, also the time when the service customarily suffered glitches...

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Ad revenues and e-commerce boom boost Facebook earnings but US users down from COVID surge

Facebook reported its Q3 earnings today, including revenues of $21.5 billion, and net income of $7.8 billion. The company earned $2.71 in per-share profit during the three-month period. Analysts had expected Facebook, the social giant, to earn a much-smaller $1.91 per-share off smaller revenues of $19.82 billion. The company also reported an average of 1.82 billion daily active users in September, up 12% compared to the year-ago period. Monthly actives...

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Twitter revenue rises 14%, but user growth fails to impress

Twitter continued to see its total traffic rise in the third quarter, thanks to that trifecta of returning sports, the presidential campaign and the COVID-19 pandemic. But there wasn’t nearly enough growth to appease Wall Street.  Twitter beat out analyst expectations on revenue and net income; However, Wall Street was stuck on Twitter’s user user figures, which showed minimal growth and sent shares lower in after-market trading. Twitter’s MDAUs...

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Twitter’s API access changes are chasing away third-party developers

Edward Tian Contributor Share on Twitter Edward Tian is a computer science student at Princeton and an investigator at Bellingcat who combines technology and investigative journalism. On August 12, Twitter launched a complete rebuild of its 2012 API, with new endpoints for data collection, new access levels and a new developer portal. Notably, the version 2 API was presented as a step in mending the notoriously fractious relationship between...

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Trump hints at stopping “powerful” big tech in latest ‘get out the vote’ tweet

If there was any doubt that yesterday’s flogging of big tech CEOs by Senate republicans was anything other than an electioneering stunt, president Trump has thumped the point home by tweeting a video message to voters in which he bashes “big tech” as (maybe) too powerful but certainly in need of being “spoken to” and (maybe) more. The not-so-subtle suggestion being that a vote for Trump is a vote to break up the likes of Facebook, Google and Twitter. pic.twitter.com/4LTWLgbmsf —...

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LinkedIn’s Career Explorer helps you identify new kinds of jobs based on the skills you have

One of the key side-effects of the Covid-19 pandemic has been how it has played out in the economy. There are currently 12.6 million people out of work in the U.S. alone, with estimates from the International Labour Organization noting that globally number some 245 million full-time jobs have been impacted. To meet some of that challenge, today, LinkedIn is launching a new Career Explorer tool to help people find new jobs. Out in beta today in English...

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We need new business models to burst old media filter bubbles

Nik Milanovic Contributor Share on Twitter Nik Milanovic is a fintech and financial inclusion enthusiast, with a decade of work across mobile payments, online lending, credit and microfinance. The opinions expressed in his articles do not reflect those of his employer(s). More posts by this contributor Build products that improve the lives of inmates Now more than ever we need fintechs to lead on consumer transparency Access to information...

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True, the social networking app that promises to ‘protect your privacy,’ exposed private messages and user locations

True bills itself as the social networking app that will “protect your privacy.” But a security lapse left one of its servers exposed — and spilling private user data to the internet for anyone to find. The app was launched in 2017 by Hello Mobile, a little-known virtual cell carrier that piggybacks off T-Mobile’s network. True’s website says it has raised $14 million in seed funding, and claimed more than half a million users shortly after its launch. But...

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Instagram extends time limits on live streams to 4 hours, will soon support archiving

Instagram is adapting to the way creators have been using its service during the coronavirus pandemic. With individuals and businesses now limited from hosting in-person events — like concerts, classes, meetups, and more — users have turned to Instagram to live stream instead. Today, the company says it’s significantly expanding the time limit for these streams, from 1 hour to now 4 hours for all users worldwide. The change, the company explains,...

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Upstream aims to be the new home for your professional social life

Last fall, social analytics startup SocialRank sold its product and business to Trufan, allowing the team to focus on something new: a professional social network. Today, they’re officially unveiling Upstream to the public. To be clear, CEO Alex Taub told me that he’s not trying to replace LinkedIn — he acknowledged that thanks to network effects,”If you want to go and try to take down LinkedIn, you’re not going to be able to take them...

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Top Facebook India executive Ankhi Das leaves the company

Ankhi Das, a top Facebook executive in India, is leaving the company on Tuesday months after she was alleged to interfere in the company’s hate speech policy in the country to show favoritism to the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party. Facebook has denied the allegations, and people close to Das (pictured above) said her departure was not related to recent stories in the press. Das, who served as the Public Policy Director for Facebook India, South and...

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TikTok partners with Shopify on social commerce

TikTok is further investing in social commerce with today’s announcement of a new global partnership with e-commerce platform Shopify. The deal aims to make it easier for Shopify’s over 1 million merchants to reach TikTok’s younger audience and drive sales. The partnership will eventually expand to include other in-app shopping features, as well, the companies said. At launch, the agreement allows Shopify merchants to create, run and optimize their...

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