Casey Newton shines a light on the increasingly common social media scam that primarily targets teen boys in his most recent Platformer newsletter:
But when a terrifying scam comes along that has led to at least 20 confirmed deaths in the past two years, a whole stack of investigations can’t seem to get a conversation going. [...] Perhaps the surgeon general, instead of his new ham-fisted campaign against every risk that social media presents, could warn parents about this one.
[Platformer]
Because we often wonder how much a CEO actually knows about the goings on of their company—particularly when a large company like Meta has is being sued by dozens of Attorneys General over its policies around underage users.
It turns out Zuckerberg may have had a very direct hand in crafting policies that targeted children and exacerbated issues with body image on Meta’s platforms, at least according to a new report from the New York Times
[The New York Times]
Two people from Malaysia both say they used Microsoft Image Creator to produce the graphic in support of Palestinians.
It’s been shared over 50 million times now, and now NPR has spoken to both of them: Zila Abka, who months ago posted the version found by 404 Media on Facebook, and Amirul Shah, who shared the now-viral Instagram template.
Meta’s platform is prepping a new settings menu item called “Early access to features” according to a screenshot posted by mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzio.
An unknown number of “targeted cuts” are coming to staffers who support the 22-member board that polices the world’s largest social media network. Launched in 2019, Meta has contributed $280 million to keep the board operational through 2025... which is a lot for a company that just emerged from its “year of efficiency.”
[The Washington Post]
According to Financial Times, regulators are concerned that Meta isn’t doing enough to stifle disinformation being seeded by countries like Russia in order to undermine EU elections.
Officials reportedly also believe Meta’s process for flagging illegal content isn’t “user-friendly enough to comply with the EU Digital Services Act.” The probe would apparently begin today.
[FinancialTimes]
Look, this is fine advice from Adam Mosseri — build an audience, not traffic, as we say so often around here — but it’s just so weird to lean this far into the idea of engagement for regular people. These platforms all feel like work now, and increasingly less fun work. No wonder everyone is going to the DMs!
Threads is part of Instagram, but it’s never played nicely with Reels — until now.
Now, Threads posts with Reels (like this one of Becca Farsace checking out the new Insta360 cam) viewed in the Android or iOS app will display the video in line instead of burdening viewers with the responsibility of an additional click. Web viewers, however, will still need to use their imagination or click through.
That’s the question being raised by its Oversight Board, which today announced two new cases looking into how Meta handled explicit fakes of female public figures posted to Facebook and Instagram. One of which could concern the fake Taylor Swift images that circulated online earlier this year.
The board’s investigation will take a few weeks before reaching a final non-binding decision.
While the “recent” filter should make it easier to find real-time search results, the “top” option shows popular posts related to your search. The test is only rolling out to a small number of users, according to Instagram head Adam Mosseri.
TechCrunch reports Meta is testing more AI features on Instagram, this time to help users find new Reels, posts or ask questions. This is similar to the AI chat feature Meta rolled out on Instagram, the very same one that couldn’t generate photos of Asian men with white wives.
Developer Alessandro Paluzzi spotted a new “challenges” feature being developed for Instagram’s Telegram-like broadcast channels that lets creators start photo contests for members and award them prizes.
According to the screenshot Paluzzi shared, channel members can interact with or report entries, and can also share them “in their stories, messages and across other apps.”
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the feature is no longer in testing, which means you’ll now get to keep tabs on what people are talking about from the app’s search tab and For You feed.
Yes, Windows users can get the Threads app Mark Zuckerberg is showing here from the Microsoft Store
But once it’s installed, you’ll get the same desktop web app experience (loaded in Microsoft’s Edge web browser) that we’ve had access to since August.