Flashes, an Instagram alternative based on Bluesky, is available for iPhones now

Anyone looking for an alternative to Instagram might have a suitable candidate in Flashes, a recently launched app built on Bluesky that seems to get all the important basics right. Flashes technicall [...]

Threads is finally embracing links

If you're active on Threads, you've probably noticed that posts with links don't do very well with the app's recommendation algorithm. This is especially noticeable if you're [...]

Meta tests letting anyone rate Community Notes

As part of a new test, Meta will let anyone rate a Community Note or request one for a post, Meta's Chief Information Security Officer Guy Rosen shared on X. After testing the feature in March, t [...]

OpenAI has disrupted (more) Chinese accounts using ChatGPT to create social media surveillance tools

OpenAI has disclosed that a now-banned account originating in China was using ChatGPT to help design promotional materials and project plans for a social media listening tool. OpenAI says that this wo [...]

Judge blocks Louisiana's social media age verification law

A Louisiana law that would have required social media platforms to verify the ages of their users has been blocked by a judge. The law, known as the Secure Online Child Interaction and Age Limitation, [...]

Ireland is testing out a digital wallet that conducts age verification for social media users

Before it's publicly available later this year, the Irish government is trialing its Government Digital Wallet, which includes a way to verify a user's age to access social media platforms. [...]

20 Snap alumni launched an angel fund for the next generation of social media. They think “social” and “media” have split.

Twenty Snap alumni have launched Ghost Angels, an angel fund backing the next generation of social media and consumer AI startups. The fund has invested in at least five companies and plans to deploy [...]

UK proposes a midnight social media curfew for older teens

The UK government has proposed a midnight social media curfew for 16 and 17-year-olds, plus limits on infinite scrolling. The UK social media curfew would switch on by default, though teens could turn [...]

Most Australian teens are still on social media three months into the under-16 ban

Most Australian teenagers are still using social media three months after the country’s world-first under-16 ban took effect, according to a new study from the eSafety Commissioner that undercuts on [...]