Lionel Messi is, without doubt, a living legend of the beautiful game. The striker was the star player of the Argentina team that won the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. Beloved by fans and admired by fellow players around the world, he's a popular and likeable personality, who many consider to be the greatest footballer of all time.

That popularity is what OpenAI must have been looking to harness when it signed Messi up to help promote ChatGPT ahead of this year's World Cup, which is taking place across Canada, Mexico, and the United States.

Unfortunately, it doesn't seem to have had much idea what to do with him; or at least that's the impression I got from the company's latest Instagram reel:

Apparently, Messi is going to "explore how AI can help fans experience football in new ways throughout the tournament season." So, this first clip of him discovering that ChatGPT can make his hair look like the colors of his home country's flag is only the beginning of his journey into corporate AI brand promotion.

AI companies, like many companies that have very quickly turned into global consumer brands, can feel oddly disconnected from the culture they're trying to enter when they produce marketing. None of this really feels like it has much to do with football or football fans.

The text accompanying the Instagram post states: "Upload your photo then copy and paste this prompt: 'Make my hair the colors of my country flag but keep it natural-looking. If no country or image is provided, ask.'"

So, the idea is that you can join in and try this yourself.

Looking through the comments, it's clear the campaign has caught plenty of people off guard. The first comment is "Wait.. what?", while another asks "How did they convince him to do this 😭😭😭😭".

Most fans would probably be happier actually wearing their country's colors

I think the ad misunderstands why people follow football in the first place. Football (or soccer, for American readers) fandom is tribal, emotional, irrational, and deeply human. OpenAI's pitch is essentially: "Use AI to imagine yourself wearing your country's colors."

Most fans would probably be happier actually wearing their country's colors.

Using ChatGPT for this feels detached from how real supporters actually behave. Before a match, fans gather in pubs and bars, wear their team's shirts, paint their faces, argue about team selections, sing songs, and obsess over tactics. Is anybody really sitting around thinking: "I wish I had an AI-generated version of myself with hair that looks like my national flag"?

Maybe some people will enjoy it. That's fine. But if this campaign is meant to demonstrate how AI can deepen our connection to football, it feels like an odd way to start.

• Instagram Plus is now rolling out globally
• It costs $3.99 (roughly £3 / AU$5.60) per month
• It includes new and improved features, with everything that was previously free remaining so — at least for now

Following an announcement last month, Instagram Plus is now rolling out globally, giving you the opportunity to pay a monthly subscription to use a platform you previously accessed for free.

Of course, the free tier is still available and — for now at least — includes everything it always did, with the ‘Plus’ version adding things on top.

For $3.99 (roughly £3 / AU$5.60) per month, Instagram Plus gives you ‘Story Spotlight’, which lets you give your story priority for your friends, ‘Super Hearts’, which are animated hearts you can send, the ability to create as many story audience lists as you want, and the ability to make a story last for 48 hours, rather than the standard 24.

You can also preview stories, see how many times your stories were rewatched, quickly check if a specific person has viewed your story, and post to your profile or highlights without it appearing in friends' feeds.

On the customization side, you can choose from a selection of app icons, customize the font of your profile bio, and pin up to six posts to your profile (up from three previously).

A troubling future

All of this is new, so you don’t lose anything by not paying, and you still have to deal with adverts even if you do pay.

But of course, things could change — it’s possible that, in the future, Meta will let you pay to remove ads (as users can already separately do in the UK and EU), but it’s also possible that features that are currently free will one day be added to Instagram Plus.

And if nothing else, it's likely that most upcoming Instagram features will be placed behind the Instagram Plus paywall.

Those possibilities — along with a concept of paying for an app that has always been free, even if that’s fully optional for now — have been met with an understandably unhappy response from users.

Under a previous TechRadar article covering Instagram Plus and a possible pay-to-engage future, responses included “talk about pricing yourself out of business”, “let it be their undoing”, and “I won’t be paying”, among other, mostly negative comments.

So, it will be interesting to see whether Instagram Plus will actually prove successful for Meta, and whether the company will leave the free features alone indefinitely and continue improving the free tier, or whether Instagram will increasingly become an app you need to pay to use properly.

This is how it starts. Someone adds the word "Plus" to a familiar service. Plus sounds like more, but somehow it's almost always a harbinger of less: less access, fewer features unless you pay. The collection of Plus-sized social media platforms — Facebook Plus, Instagram Plus, WhatsApp Plus — all cheerfully introduced this week by Meta's Head of Product Naomi Gleit, is, despite what Meta might claim, likely the first step in a short path to reduced access to the core features of these popular social media platforms.

Gleit positions the change in her Instagram video as "building value" and delivering "enhanced features that our community already loves."

The Plus-sized services are, Gleit says on Facebook, rolling out today and should offer "premium features that unlock more from our apps and our AI glasses." The only tangible change, though, may be Meta AI falling in step with many of its generative AI competitors, and adding more capacity, the ability to handle more complex requests, and "more room to create." Sure, this is fuzzy, at best, lacking details like how many daily/monthly processing tokens or even how many prompts.

In fact, there are precious few details about what any of these Plus tiers (according to Techcrunch, will cost between $2.99 and $3.99 a month in the US) might offer. This means we can only look to how other digital platforms have introduced Plus-like tiers and what it's meant for consumer access.

If we were to look at streamers, the answer is clear and not encouraging.

Virtually every streaming platform sliced up its offerings to add a more affordable but ad-stuffed tier. In the case of Amazon, it took the more draconian measure and simply converted existing Amazon Prime Video customers to the ad tier. If you wanted to return to your original ad-free experience, you pay more.

Or look at Garmin and its Connect+ service, where it seems all the best analytical features are behind the subscription curtain.

As I've written before, we're now knee deep in tech subscription service culture, where companies unveil new products where key features are only available if you're willing to pay a never-ending monthly service fee.

The concern for Meta's Plus plan is that there are countless social media and communication features we depend on that could, without notice, suddenly fall under Plus.

WhatsApp's end-to-end encryption is a good example. It's a core, longtime, and laudable feature that is possibly the reason millions use it. What if encryption eventually ends up falling under WhatsApp Plus? I bet it would happen quietly, with a notice hidden in your email, or an unread WhatsApp message.

On Facebook, you could lose the ability to post more than three photos in a post, or maybe only Facebook Plus subscribers can post more than three public posts in a day.

Similarly, Instagram is ripe to shift key features like longer Reels, saving Stories, or Direct Messages under a Plus banner.

If you miss some of these features, there will be Meta One, a buy-one-get-all Plus bundle. The social media giant is only testing this idea, but it will surely be the answer to those frustrated by all they lost and looking for a more affordable way to claw it all back. So for one slightly lower price, you get it all (and probably a little more).

An upside

,Meta's Plus plan might not be all bad. I think many of us still grudgingly use Facebook because old friends are still on there, and it's the only place we get and share birthday messages. No one is thrilled with the ads or constant prompts to follow people we don't know or to join groups where we have at best a passing interest. Then there's the content itself, which is filled with AI garbage, hot takes, and misinformation.

What if Facebook Plus could be an ad-free and more curated experience? Could the premium tier ban, at your request, all AI?

If Instagram Plus were a custom-built service where you choose the feed, creating the perfect algorithm (or no algorithm at all) and pick and choose which features you want, that might be a social media platform worth paying for.

Let's get real

Unfortunately, I don't think Meta's subscription plan will ultimately work this way. As a signal, I look to Gleit's comments about Creators. For the promise of Plus or premium, they get:

• More tools
• Enhanced presence
• Automated tasks
• The ability to protect their brand.

I'm confused. Aren't all these things part of the base, free versions of Instagram and Facebook? Why would a creator suddenly have to pay to "protect their brand?"

Even if free protections remain strong, I'm sure Meta will pitch "enhanced protections" that many creators will want.

As it is, Instagram and Facebook's free versions don't do a great job of protecting identity. There are always fake versions of celebrities, and I've heard of people losing their valuable accounts and getting virtually no support from Meta when they try to reclaim them.

What's next

While we wait for details of Meta's Plus plan to emerge, I think we have to prepare for the worst. Services are an undeniably attractive business. People pay for access to their favorite platform or features, and they pay every single month. Once they're subscribed, they rarely peel off, even when you slightly raise the prices.

Just look at Apple, which long had a services business, but has grown it into a substantial multi-billion dollar piece of its revenue pie.

With billions of users around the globe, Meta's subscription business opportunity is enormous, and I'm guessing it felt it had to do this to ensure revenue growth, especially as people begin to wonder if they need to spend less time online and more time touching grass.

• A medical report compares the threats of social media to smoking
• Medical professionals are being encouraged to ask young patients about their screen time
• The UK government is weighing a blanket ban on social media use for under-16s, but some are calling for a different approach

Health experts have likened the health risks of social media use by young people to the dangers of smoking, as the UK government moves closer to introducing a social media ban for under-16s.

The UK’s Academy of Medical Royal Colleges says in a report that social media use poses significant damage to children who are “continuously exposed to hateful, addictive and grossly distressing content”. The report, submitted as part of the government’s consultation process, also says social media use by young people now sits alongside smoking and wearing seatbelts “as a unifying force for the medical profession”.

The report also highlights the responsibility of medical professionals in protecting children, saying doctors should now be asking children about their screen time and social media use when they first assess them. Half of the 454 medical professionals surveyed by the academy said they treated a child with social media-linked mental ill health at least once a week.

The guidance would make it easier for doctors to quickly assess if a child’s social media use is excessive and unhealthy, encouraging medical professionals to record any long-term health issues that could arise in their younger patients. “The difference now is that the harm being done to children online is not hypothetical … It is immediate, it is documented, and it is happening at scale,” the report adds.

One of the leading supporters of government action, former Health Secretary Wes Streeting, also said social media should be treated in a similar way to tobacco. “It’s extremely addictive, bad for our health, and big tech is borrowing the big tobacco playbook to avoid regulation”, he added.

The government’s consultation period, which received contributions from more than 70,000 individuals and groups, ends today (May 26), with Technology Secretary Liz Kendall telling the BBC: “The question isn't whether we're going to act — we will.”

She said the government would respond to the consultation over the summer, with measures being introduced before the end of the year.

As part of the consultation process, a number of bereaved parents who believe social media contributed to the loss of their children will meet with Prime Minister Keir Starmer to share their experiences. Starmer was initially opposed to an outright ban for under-16s, but has since said he is “open-minded” about enacting stronger measures.

Weighing the pros and the cons

While many parents, family groups, and health professionals favor some form of government action, opinion is divided on what form it should take.

Some argue that imposing a blanket ban for under-16s could backfire and actually cause greater harm, as it could cause young people to seek out banned content on the dark web, or even leave them unequipped to navigate online content when they turn 16.

The chair of the Molly Rose Foundation, Ian Russell, said that instead of an outright ban, existing laws should be enforced for a more holistic approach. The organization was founded and named after Molly Rose, a teenager who lost her life in 2017 after being exposed to harmful content through social media.

Critics of a blanket ban have pointed to Australia, which introduced a wide-ranging crackdown on social media use by young people in December 2025, banning children under 16 from holding accounts on major social media platforms.

A recent study conducted by the Molly Rose Foundation revealed that 60% of under-16s were still using platforms such as TikTok and Instagram, even though these services were required to shut down the accounts of under-age users.

Since that study was published, the UK has been experimenting with restrictive features before it considers a wider ban. In March, the UK government kick-started a pilot scheme, where it tested screentime limits and curfews in 300 teenage homes to trial different kinds of bans.

To add to this, further restrictive measures are also being considered including auto-play functions and infinite scrolling being disabled to stop young users from being caught in endless webs of potentially harmful content.

• New AI tools for verifying ages are being rolled out by Meta
• Instagram and Facebook is for users aged 13+
• A "visual analysis" will weigh up height and bone structure

Age verification for sites, apps, and devices is fast becoming the norm as regulators look to protect children from potentially harmful content — including content on social media. Now Meta has announced new "age assurance measures" for teen users and predictably, they are powered by AI.

Specifically, the system will use contextual clues associated with a profile (such as mentions of birthdays or school grades) together with a "visual analysis" to help figure out how old a user is.

"We want to be clear: this is not facial recognition," says Meta. "Our AI looks at general themes and visual cues, for example height or bone structure, to estimate someone's general age; it does not identify the specific person in the image."

Users suspected of being too young for Facebook and Instagram (so under 13) will have their accounts deactivated. They'll then need to provide some form of proof of age through a specific age verification process to get their account back.

'Safe, positive experiences online'

Other Facebook and Instagram users can report accounts that they think are being used by kids under the age of 13, and Meta says it hopes to "significantly increase the number of underage accounts we identify and remove" through these methods.

"We want young people to have safe, positive experiences online," says Meta (though some would disagree). "For over a decade, we've built tools, features, and resources to help teens have safe, age-appropriate experiences on our apps."

Similar AI techniques are already being used to spot teenagers on Meta's platforms, and shepherd them into teen-appropriate spaces on these platforms. This tech is now expanding into more regions (including Facebook in the US and the UK).

Meta's announcement ends with a familiar call that we've heard before from the developers of apps and websites: to force age verification at the device level, so it's a problem for Apple, Google, and Microsoft rather than Meta.

Trash on the street, noise, pollution, graffiti, and belligerent dogs: these all might be considered public nuisances. New Mexico, however, hopes to convince a jury that Meta's Facebook and Instagram fall under that designation and should be penalized accordingly.

I won't argue that Meta's products have proven in their 20-year history to be something of a challenge for humans. What started as a fun, casual way to connect has, in some instances, become the very foundation of how people view themselves and others. They are the pipeline for information (real and fake) and, in the case of Facebook, the single place where we wish someone a happy birthday.

No one envisioned, though, that they would have, for some, a powerful effect on our psyche, and especially for the youngest among us. What we see, hear, and read shapes us and our worldview.

How did we get here

Certainly, Mark Zuckerberg never envisaged that his college "The Facebook" would someday influence Presidential Elections.

However, when Zuckerberg and other tech leaders realized the magnetic power of these systems and how they could suck in eyeballs and drive advertising dollars, they woke up to both the potential for growth and the ever-present risk of losing visitors.

Things like infinite scroll, autoplay, and especially algorithms were designed not just to tailor experiences to your individual tastes, but to hook you and hold your attention for as long as possible (and to serve you as many ads as possible).

Again, by my estimation, there was no understanding that those same tools would prove so toxic to one of Meta's key audiences.

Meta was not necessarily targeting children or tweens, but that cohort was certainly on the platforms (and it never hurt Meta that teens would grow into adults with buying power) and lacked the maturity and skills to know when to turn them off or to take what was being presented as real with a grain of salt.

In truth, many adults still lack these abilities. They're fed a steady mix of fact and fiction, truth and hyperbole. Recently, a relative I consider intelligent told me with certainty that the recent White House Correspondents' Dinner attempted assassination was staged. There's no evidence it was, but the chatter on Facebook and fake media outlets that live there told her it was so.

Has Meta done enough?

It's in this light that we view Metas' impact on those adults, but especially these minors.

Meta has done what it thinks it can to prevent kids and teens from having the wrong kinds of experiences on the platform.

It's using AI to ferret out kids and teens posing as adults and shunting the minors to a limited experience — and in that experience, parental oversight that puts the control in adult hands.

All that, though, may not be enough

After losing the first part of a big case last month, which focused less on the content on these platforms and more on how Meta willfully built them to capture and hold attention, Meta is now facing that Public Nuisance charge, which New Mexico wants to use to force Meta to make these changes:

• Age verification
• Redesign recommendation algorithm
• End autoplay (for those under 18)
• End infinite scroll (for those under 18)
• $3.7B to support future teen mental health services in New Mexico

Meta has naturally argued that these changes are technically infeasible. I kind of doubt that, but they could be, at scale, at least, financially infeasible.

Look at that last bit where New Mexico is trying to get tens of billions of dollars from Meta to cover future teen mental health costs. I have no doubt the true costs could be that expensive, but what if New Mexico wins? The 40-or-so other Attorney Generals-sponsored cases against Meta would try to follow suit, and suddenly, Meta has a bill in the hundreds of billions.

You can see why Meta is going to fight. But the momentum appears to have swung away from the social media company, and it could very well lose this case.

Meta's answer, by the way, would be to pull out of New Mexico, something that I'm sure will upset many in New Mexico, especially some Instagram-addicted teens.

If New Mexico wins, it will also affix the label of public nuisance to Facebook and Instagram. I can't say I agree with that. I'm sometimes annoyed by the platforms, but there are other times, like my birthday, when I appreciate it. It's also worth noting that whatever happens with Meta will impact all other social media that operates in New Mexico and, likely before long, the rest of the US.

I agree, Facebook is frustrating, sometimes upsetting, but also part of our culture and, for better or worse, who we are as a society. It has connected people across oceans and could still do that in the future. I expect change to come, and I don't know if they should all be on Meta's terms, but I would be cautious about stamping it all with a label we'll struggle to remove.

In just a few weeks, Meta’s Instagram will officially stop supporting end-to-end encryption (E2EE) on messages. The company claims the decision stems from low adoption rates.

However, privacy advocates I’ve spoken to argue that E2EE is an essential tool that should have been enabled by default.

The move follows TikTok’s recent announcement that it will not introduce E2EE, claiming the technology puts users at risk. Together, these decisions could mark a significant shift in how tech giants approach digital privacy.

What is end-to-end encryption and why is it important?

At its core, E2EE is the process of cryptographically altering data so a message can only be read by the sender and the recipient. This prevents the platform you’re using — or anyone who manages to intercept the data — from deciphering the contents of your messages.

Privacy advocates have long heralded the use of E2EE as a pivotal way of defending our privacy.

In Privacy International’s analysis, it highlights the many ways E2EE helps protect us — protection from criminals who want to snoop on our messages, and protection from government surveillance.

Technology Lead at Privacy International, Christopher Weatherhead, told TechRadar that E2EE is “essential both to fundamental human rights and to everyday life.

“With many people reliant on tech giants to provide encrypted services, these companies have a responsibility to implement it in a secure, reliable way that puts people first.”

E2EE is not a silver bullet, however, and there are still ways your messages can be monitored. For example, the widespread use of digital forensics tools by law enforcement means authorities can often access your messages without even needing your login credentials.

Similarly, highly sophisticated spyware solutions — such as NSO’s Pegasus — bypass E2EE protections by operating at the OS (operating system) level. Effectively, the spyware controller gains full access to your device as if they were hovering over your shoulder watching every swipe and keystroke.

Just last week, reports surfaced that messages on Signal — widely regarded as the most secure messenger available — were recovered by investigators from an iPhone’s notification database, where message previews had persisted even after the app was deleted.

Ultimately, encrypted messages are far more secure than unencrypted ones. But they are not designed to be — nor can they ever be — entirely impenetrable.

Meta's stance on E2EE

Meta first began experimenting with E2EE on Instagram years ago. In a 2022 post, the company was explicit about the technology’s importance, stating that E2EE allows people to “trust that their online conversations with friends and family are private and secure.”

However, in an abrupt change of heart, the company now says it’s being canned due to a lack of adoption.

A Meta spokesperson told TechRadar: “Very few people were opting in to end-to-end encrypted messaging in DMs, so we're removing this option from Instagram in the coming months. Anyone who wants to keep messaging with end-to-end encryption can easily do that on WhatsApp.”

While Meta's official line is low adoption, the move follows years of sustained pressure from child safety groups and law enforcement that’s hard to ignore. Critics of E2EE have claimed the technology makes tackling abuse online more difficult as it prevents the platform from easily screening messages.

Privacy advocates say its low adoption rate was a self-fulfilling prophecy due to the way E2EE was rolled out in the first place.

Weatherhead says “it was a poor implementation from a user experience perspective, so low adoption is a poor justification for scrapping it." Thorin Klosowski, a security and privacy activist at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), agrees, saying the situation is a “pretty clear example of just how much defaults matter.”

“The low adoption likely has nothing to do with what people want or even expect," Klosowski told me. "I’d venture a guess that most people had no idea their Instagram DMs weren’t private to begin with.”

“Our messages should be protected with end-to-end encryption without requiring us to opt into the feature,” he added.

What next for our private messages?

While Meta continues to support E2EE on Messenger and WhatsApp, the ramifications of its Instagram retreat will be far-reaching.

We're unlikely to see a mass exodus of users, but the decision means those who relied on the technology — including journalists contacting sources, the LGBTQ+ community in restrictive regions, or political dissidents — will lose a vital layer of protection overnight.

And it isn't just Instagram users who will be impacted. When a giant like Meta shifts its stance on security and privacy, the entire industry takes note.

Combined with TikTok’s recent move to cite user safety concerns as the reason for avoiding E2EE, there is a genuine risk of a domino effect. If the world’s most dominant platforms won't commit to default encryption, emerging rivals may decide the resources required to implement it simply aren't worth the investment.

At a time when the (admittedly false) dichotomy between online safety and digital privacy is being debated more fiercely than ever, Meta’s retreat adds fuel to the narrative that encryption is a threat to be managed rather than a right to be protected.

For authoritarian regimes, hackers, and data brokers looking for easier access to private conversations, the news couldn't be better.

Will the average Instagram user care? Probably not. But for those who value digital privacy — and especially those at risk of increased surveillance — this is a dramatic and potentially dangerous shift that could eventually impact us all.

• Research shows that Australia's social media ban isn't the most effective
• Some under-16s say platforms haven't taken action to deactivate their accounts
• Despite the failure, the UK government is still considering a similar ban

The UK government is still mulling over a proposed social media ban following Australia becoming the first country to implement the ban — but it turns out, this ruling is failing for the people down under.

In a recent story from Sky News, the outlet revealed that research shows over 60% of underage users in Australia still have access to a range of their social media accounts on YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok. The research was carried out online by the Molly Rose Foundation between March 12 - 31.

Australia’s social media ban for under-16s has been in effect since December 2025, targeting 10 of the biggest platforms. But even though platforms are now required to close existing underage accounts and prevent the creation of new ones by law, 53% of users were still on TikTok, while 53% used YouTube, and 52% of Instagram users still had access, the research reveals.

Beyond this, the study showed something deeper about these platforms’ efforts to enforce restrictions. According to the research, “two-thirds of YouTube users, 61% of Snapchat users, and 60% of both Instagram and TikTok users” claimed that these platforms didn’t take action to deactivate their accounts, which were created before the ban was issued, leaving users feeling more unsafe post-ban compared to before.

Each of the platforms mentioned above have yet to comment on why restrictive measures haven’t succeeded, but for those who have been signed out of their accounts, parents have apparently noticed positive behavioral changes according to a YouGov poll from March. But while Australia still finds its footing with the ban (it could be targeting VPNs next), the UK is still deliberating a similar ruling, even though research suggests Australia's ban hasn't been that effective.

‘Addictive scrolling mechanisms are really problematic’

Since Australia introduced the ban, the UK government has been seriously considering a similar approach. While it rolled out a slew of age verification requirements last year, it has yet to take action on an official social media ban, but it’s not completely off the cards for Prime Minister Keir Starmer who shared to the BBC "But I think ​equally important, the addictive scrolling mechanisms are really problematic to ​my mind. They need to go."

As it stands, the government is currently experimenting with tools such as curfews and screen time limits for apps to examine their impact on things such as education and family life, as Reuters shares. However, aside from this, the government wants to hear directly from parents and teenagers alike.

This would allow the government to see things from both perspectives. On the one hand it gives parents the opportunity to express any concerns they have regarding their child’s screen time and the type of content they can be exposed to. Consulting teenagers on the other hand would offer an explicit insight to the reality of growing up in the age of social media, especially if teenagers provide account of their own personal experiences.

It's hard to find anyone who doesn't believe that too much social media is a bad thing. Social media companies now urge you to take breaks, and even Apple's Tim Cook, whose ultra-popular iPhone hosts all these platforms' apps, wants people to look less at their phones and more at other human beings. Now, though, the courts have weighed in, and Meta and YouTube just lost a landmark case that could take casual concern and make it tangible in the form of fundamental changes to how we view and use social media.

On Wednesday, an LA Superior Court Jury ruled in favor of a 20-year-old plaintiff who claimed that Meta and YouTube were negligent and that their platforms caused her mental health issues. It's one of many such cases popping up around the US, and less than 24 hours earlier, Meta lost a case in New Mexico, which claimed that Meta's apps failed to protect users from online predators. Even though these cases are not connected in the courts, the pair of them may point to some rapidly changing attitudes toward social media and its use.

This LA case, which originally also included TikTok and Snap (they settled out of court) is more notable since, by not focusing on the content that might have led to harm but on how the systems are built (algorithms that keep you engaged, endless scrolls, notificatons to return), the case skirted around the US's long-standing Section 230 (part of the US 1996 Communications Decency Act) that essentially protects these platforms from the content that third-party individuals' post on them. So, unlike a publisher that might be liable for a story in their newspaper, YouTube is not directly liable for false and inflammatory remarks made in a YouTube video.

In this case, the content that might have influenced the plaintiff's body dysmorphia is immaterial. What matters is that Instagram and YouTube felt inescapable because of how they work.

Let's not be naive

Whether or not that's true (yes, the jury believes it is), what we should be able to agree on is that the algorithms in Instagram, YouTube, and TikTok are powerful, and personalized to even your most fleeting interests. They're not just measuring if you actively click on a like button. They can see time spent, where you paused, commented, and other metrics that tell them how you feel about that content. More positive signals will lead to you seeing more of that content, even if it's not good for you. Just last year, Instagram added a tool to let you curate your own algorithm.

If you have notifications on, these platforms will reach out and try to pull you back in. There's also the social construct around them. Our cultural language is now intertwined with social media; to be off of it is to be wildly out of touch. That's not something a teen feels they can afford to do.

One of the questions here, and I don't know that this case makes it clear, is if Meta and YouTube are being held negligent for not knowing what their systems were doing or if they willfully designed systems, as some reports have alleged, and algorithms that would keep us coming back and on platform as long as possible, serving you whatever content engaged you most and not discerning between healthy and unhealthy content.

Cases like this make me feel for the affected teens, and how they must've felt trapped by the content and their response to it. I know that Meta and YouTube argued that the harm this young woman felt was tied to her home life and not their platforms. I would guess that played a part.

The role parents play

Which leads me to think about parents and guardians. Before any of us understood the impact of these platforms, most of us threw up our hands and "let teens be teens." Social media wasn't for us, although now many adults are just as addicted to it as teens.

I've often counseled parents on how they can't leave their kids alone with phones, tablets, and social media. These tiny screens are doorways to a vast and unknowable world, often featuring content, ideas, and people they are not ready to handle.

Post-millennial teens (let's just call them 'digital natives') are often smarter than their parents about technology, running rings around their rules and creating fake Instagrams (Finstagrams) to hide what they were really doing on the platform: parents saw the main Instagram account, their friends saw their real lives in Finstagram.

It took more than a decade for Meta, YouTube, and others to admit that these platforms needed to offer parents some modicum of control.

They moved slowly at first, but in the last few years, Meta has become particularly aggressive, even applying AI to identify potential teens on the Instagram and then automatically shifting them into more limited access (yes, I've heard of adults who've been swept up in this automation, but then I have to ask, why does an AI think you're a teen? What are you doing on there?).

What's next

Meta is appealing in New Mexico and will surely appeal this case, as well. But a loss like this could be the beginning of a landslide where Meta, YouTube, TikTok, and others suffer more losses and have no choice but to rewrite algorithms (what if they have to insert content they know you'll dislike after every fifth post?), pause or limit auto scrolling for everyone, and remove everyone under 18 from these platforms.

That's also all unlikely but not impossible. It's hard to imagine these platforms emerging unscathed. The sentiment has changed. Action will be warranted.

At the same time, they cannot afford to lose their teen user bases. Meta and YouTube need these younger users because they will eventually become their adult customers with buying power. Most of Meta's revenue still comes from advertising, which is somewhat effective on kids and teens, but far more impactful for adults with money in their pockets.

Change is coming, but I can't conceive yet how it will manifest; I just know it's coming.

• Mark Zuckerberg spoke at the LA social media addiction trial
• He defended Meta's approach to protecting teen users
• The plantiff's lawyer argued Meta was targeting teens for platform growth

Meta's focus might look to be more on AI and smart glasses than the social media platforms which saw it rise to prominence, but errors its accused of making with regards to keeping teens safe online could affect the whole company, and the whole tech industry.

To catch you up to speed, Meta and YouTube are currently involved in a social media addiction trial being held in Los Angeles, which pits the duo against a plaintiff accusing the companies of intentionally creating damagingly addictive platforms.

It’s one of thousands of similar lawsuits that have been filed against social media giants, which are attempting to argue that platform features rather than platform content have created negative addictive tendencies in younger users. Social media content is protected by the infamous Section 230 federal rule, which shields platforms from liability for the user-generated content on their sites, but lawyers for the plaintiff argue the law doesn’t protect features like infinite scroll.

The trial started a little over a week ago, and after opening arguments from lawyers for each side, key figures are taking the stand, including, recently, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg.

Zuckerberg defended the actions of his company, saying that, while he regrets Meta not making faster progress in its efforts to identify users under 13, the teams working on platforms like Facebook and Instagram have spent years addressing “problematic use” because “it’s the right thing to do” (via the BBC).

This includes adding features such as daily use limits, usage alerts, and the ability to switch notifications off in the evening and overnight.

He was, however, questioned about various internal messages, such as one in 2017 which sees an executive saying “Mark has decided the top priority for the company is teens," and another from 2015 in which Zuckerberg and others discuss strategies to increase "teen usage."

Zuckerberg was also asked about a 2019 research report from an independent company done on behalf of Instagram, which said teen users had "an addicts' narrative about their Instagram use."

More than a social media trial?

As we've discussed in previous articles about this ongoing story, the verdict made in this trial could have major ramifications for social media companies. There are thousands of similar lawsuits making their way through the US courts that would take precedent from the decisions made here, and a negative result for Meta and YouTube could embolden more governments to introduce or tighten social media restrictions for younger users, following the lead of Australia.

But for both of these companies, a negative result – or even simply a negative result in the court of public opinion – could impact not only their past mistakes but their future projects too.

Both Meta and Google, the parent of YouTube, are currently pushing hard into AI and wearables with Ray-Ban Meta glasses and Android XR. Smart glasses are the big new thing in tech, and there are rumors that Meta might finally launch a smart watch to compete with Android and Apple bands, but these gadgets can give these companies a lot of insight into our lives and our physical health.

A recent New York Times report has suggested Meta wants to add facial recognition to its specs, and numerous wearables brands have dreamed up visions of glasses that can remind you where you left your keys before you leave home. But these features only work effectively if your tech is always watching your every move, listening to all your conversations, and deeply involved in your life.

If the perception (even if the trial’s verdict disputes it) is that Meta and YouTube – and by extension Google – misuse social media data to get people hooked on their tech, I imagine folks wouldn’t be keen to hand over even more data to these companies through wearables.

Equally, if Meta and YouTube can prove they have done everything they can to keep users safe, then that could help convince people that their wearables are the safest option in this new AI/AR wild west.

This is a case we’ll be following closely, though with the trial still underway, and appeals likely to follow, don't expect a final decision to be made any time soon.

The question of whether we'll be uploading our consciousness to a computer is no longer if. It's probably when. That's because these digital consciousnesses – our essences – will likely be the product of an AI's interpretation of ourselves. The breadcrumbs we'll leave across digital files, images, videos, audio recordings, and, of course, all that social media will be an ample resource to reconstruct you.

The idea is not new, but in recent months it's gathered fresh steam as companies like Meta look at ways to formalize the process. According to Business Insider (as spotted by Dexerto), Meta is trying to patent a process for using a large language model (LLM) to recreate a persona on social media after the person has died.

Currently, Meta lets you "memorialize" a deceased relative's account, essentially cryo-freezing the account and all its posts in perpetuity. I support this process, since I think it's quite similar to the dusty photo album you have on the shelf that features photos of Gramma, Grandpa, and other long-lost relatives, all frozen in time at the beach, on a walk, playing with their grandkids, and generally living their lives.

The new plan, though, could be something different. Imagine this version of the account as a personalized AI agent, capable of posting, responding, reacting, chatting, and commenting in ways that mimic how a living Facebook member would.

Instead of imagining Grandma at home on her comfy couch, peering over bifocals as she carefully pecks out a response to the artwork her grandchild just posted on Instagram, think of a server with a process that notices a post in the now deceased grandma's network feed. It doesn't post right away because Grandma never did. Instead, it waits an average of one to several weeks (Grandma used to like posts from as far back as a year) and then adds her signature heart and cake emojis (no one ever figured out why Grandma kept posting cake emojis).

That post might give you a fleeting warm feeling before you remember Grandma's been gone for a year.

A patent but not a plan

Meta isn't, the report notes, implementing this patent. In fact, there's no direct evidence they'll ever do it, aside from the fact that Meta might invest $140B in AI this year alone, and the company, like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Anthropic, is in a fast-paced, intense AI race. Leaving this capability on the table, when others might race to implement it, seems like a strategic mistake, and one I'm not sure Meta is willing to make.

Even if Meta chooses to steer clear, nothing will stop AI's progress in this realm. AI Time promises that AI's replicant capabilities today will be nothing compared to what we see in a few months.

Today's AI is already proving quite adept at recreating voices, images, and videos of living and dead people. Just this month, ByteDance's Seedance achieved new, disturbing levels of vermiseltude.

Death is just a state of an AI mind

On the other side of all these stunning AI advancements is humanity's own obsession with mortality. Death remains a taboo subject, largely because no one knows what comes after, and, for the living, the loss and absence of loved ones is an immutable pain.

It's probably why there are so many books about death, dying, and the afterlife. There's also a long, still-growing list of sci-fi movies and TV shows about eternal life, including Self/Less, Transcendence, and Upload.

In 2014's rather prescient Transcendence, Johnny Depp is a scientist who is fatally wounded and has his consciousness uploaded to an AI by a desperate lover (and fellow scientist). As you might expect, things go awry: Depp's AI consciousness grows too powerful and eventually leads to the destruction of all technology.

I don't think we're headed down that path (at least not yet), but I'm now convinced that, while the idea of extending life through a digital simulacrum sounds distasteful today, it may be de rigueur in the not-too-distant future.

The desire to reconnect with lost loved ones is, I'd argue, stronger than our need to keep AI at bay. Even knowing that the entity on the other side of the conversation is nothing more than a highly complex set of 1's and 0's won't matter. If the AI can recreate the nuance, the mannerisms, vocal tics, and virtual empathy of their lost loved one, that will be enough for some people.

Is it escapable?

We've already made our first timid steps into this space, connecting with AI therapists and falling for AI partners. These people know that none of these AIs are real and that the love and compassion are, well, artificial. But like an artificial sweetener, it still makes you feel the same way.

Connecting with AI versions of deceased relatives will feel no different. And, while deleting Facebook might help, trying to avoid it by deleting all social media is probably a Quixotic effort. We've already filled the system with our lives. They know us, and you can't scrub that training. What's more, AI has so infiltrated society that they no longer need social media posts to learn who we are, what we do, and how we act. AI's myriad and growing touchpoints across society mean they have ample opportunity to learn the ins and outs of you.

And when it's your time, they will have an AI version of you at the ready, whether or not anyone wants to talk to it.

• Instagram boss Adam Mosseri insists the app is not addictive
• Social media apps are on trial for causing mental health issues
• There is 'problematic use' in some cases, Mosseri admits

Adam Mosseri, who has been the head of Instagram since 2018, has had some interesting things to say about addiction on the platform. Mosseri was speaking at a high-profile trial in California investigating the mental health impacts of social media.

Meta's social platforms and YouTube are currently in the dock. They're accused of designing their apps to be as addictive as possible, leading to compulsive use that drives health problems such as body dysmorphia, anxiety, and depression.

"It's important to differentiate between clinical addiction and problematic use," Mosseri said (via the BBC). When it was put to him that the main plaintiff in the case, known as KGM, had once spent 16 hours on the platform, he said "that sounds like problematic use".

"I'm sure I've said that I've been addicted to a Netflix show when I binged it really late one night, but I don't think it's the same thing as clinical addiction," Mosseri went on to say, refusing to label the user behavior described in the trial as addictive.

'Digital casinos'

While Meta and YouTube are defending themselves, Snap and TikTok have already settled with KGM out of court. The 20-year-old Californian woman sued the social media platforms in 2023, and opening statements have been heard this week.

KGM's lawyer, Mark Lanier, has argued that these apps and services are essentially "digital casinos", and has highlighted that internal documents from these accused companies have compared their technology with Big Tobacco.

Meta's defense is that the mental health issues of KGM were brought about primarily by other factors in her life, including abuse and problems at home. However, the plaintiff had previously made over 300 complaints to Instagram about bullying on the platform.

The trial comes as social media companies face increasing scrutiny over the impacts their algorithms and features have on users. Late last year, Australia banned under-16s from social media, a move that other countries are also considering.

• A major lawsuit on social media addiction is playing out in Los Angeles
• Lawyers for the plaintiff argue that social media is intentionally addictive to children
• Meta and YouTube argue their platforms are safe for younger users

Have social media platforms such as Instagram and YouTube “engineered addiction in children’s brains”?

That’s the question at the center of a social media addiction trial being held in Los Angeles, pitting Meta and YouTube against a plaintiff accusing the companies of intentionally creating damagingly addictive platforms.

It’s not just central to this case either. The outcome of the trial could guide the result of around 1,500 more similar lawsuits being levied at social media giants (via CNN), and continue the growing trend of social media pushback – especially when it comes to young people.

Likening swiping through social to the motion of pulling a “handle of a slot machine” in the pursuit of mental stimulation, the lawyer for the plaintiff – identified only as Kaley (and her initials KGM) – argues that YouTube and Instagram are like “digital casinos” with features that create an addictive cycle of dopamine hits.

In turn, the lawyer argues, this social media addiction caused Kaley to develop anxiety, body dysmorphia, and suicidal thoughts.

The case specifically targets social media features – such as infinite scroll feeds (which never end, no matter how far you scroll down) – rather than the content of the platforms, which would be protected under US Section 230 of Federal law.

Meta’s lawyer in the case has instead suggested KGM’s family dynamics are to blame for her mental health troubles, with spokespersons for the company saying that Meta “Strongly disagree with these allegations and are confident the evidence will show our longstanding commitment to supporting young people.”

YouTube similarly refutes the allegations. A spokesperson has said that “providing young people with a safer, healthier experience has always been core to our work.” YouTube’s lawyer is expected to give the company’s opening legal statement on Tuesday, February 10.

Snapchat’s parent company, Snap, and TikTok were originally named in the lawsuit, too. However, they have both settled with KGM and are no longer defendants in the case.

A guide for what's to come

This is just the start of what is set to be a six-week-long case – that with appeals may stretch even longer – so it’s impossible to predict what the jury’s verdict will decide, but it’s yet another instance of pushback against how social media platforms engage young people.

We’ve seen various proposed and passed bills limiting access to sites based on tighter age restrictions in the UK, Australia, and recently, France.

In another California legal case, this time from state Attorneys General, prosecutors are asking a Federal judge to force Meta to remove all accounts known to belong to users under 13, to delete all data collected from Facebook and Instagram users under 13, and to delete algorithms and other tools built using said data.

Some of this group are also calling for Meta to impose new restrictions for younger users, and to remove what they call “ addictive” design features like autoplay and infinite scroll – a feature highlighted in the KGM lawsuit above.

At the same time, we’ve seen social media companies perhaps attempt to preempt this backlash by launching renewed safety measures for young users. Meta, in recent years, has rolled out dedicated features for teen accounts that include special safety and content filtering options for people under 16.

More recently, Discord has announced global age verification checks will roll out to all users in early March – requiring all users to submit an ID or complete a facial age check before they can use the platform unrestricted.

Though with that last one, companies are also seeing there’s a tightrope to walk between appeasing lawmakers on the safety of their platform and not creating user outrage – the latter of which Discord does appear to have stoked.

We’ll have to wait and see exactly what happens with the case above, the many others in the works, and various government actions being taken on social media, but it does seem major shifts are all but inevitable for how young people will be able to engage with online platforms. With privacy fears and usage frustration remaining for adults with many of the proposed solutions, however, it’s unclear if they’ll end the online safety debate or merely evolve it.

• French MPs voted to pass a social media ban for minors into law
• It isn't law yet; it must first pass through France's Senate
• Once enacted, under-15s would no longer be able to access social platforms

French MPs just voted 116-23 in favor of a social media ban aimed at minors – in what is being heralded as a “major step” towards protecting kids and teenagers online.

As you can imagine, not everyone is happy with the proposed rules.

The bill hasn’t been passed into law yet – France’s Senate must also approve it, and some wonder if it will be blocked under European law after a similar bill was stopped in 2023 – but it follows in the footsteps of similar rules we’ve been seeing in Australia, the United Kingdom, and some US states.

Speaking in a video broadcast about the bill, French President Emmanuel Macron said, “The emotions of our children and teenagers are not for sale or to be manipulated, either by American platforms or Chinese algorithms” – clear references to the likes of Instagram, X, and TikTok.

Once introduced, these and other social media services will need to verify the age of French users or bar them from accessing content. Given that some kind of age verification system may be coming at the European level, France will probably be just the first EU nation to impose such a ban – case in point, Ireland, Spain, and Denmark are also considering such rules.

While many parents, lawmakers, and even some children have reacted positively, others have had fewer kind words to share.

Scrolling through (ironically) social media, you’ll find plenty of comments calling this “legislative overreach.” While others are concerned about needing to share their IDs online – especially following various data leaks involving IDs from countries that have imposed similar rules (such as a Discord breach which saw hackers steal thousands of government-ID photos)

The better of two evils

You don’t have to look far to find reports showing the harmful effects of social media on mental health – some of which come from the companies themselves. Nor to find examples of the ways platforms could be used and abused by users and their own creators – such as the recent example of Grok being used to create explicit images of women and children, or whistleblower claims that Meta platforms can target users with ads based on their emotional state (something Meta has denied doing, but did admit to researching across a series of statements back in 2017).

At the same time, I know how valuable social media can be. YouTube and TikTok can be incredible educational platforms, social media can provide access to invaluable news sources, create spaces for people to organize action around an important cause they care about, or simply give people the chance to find a crowd they can fit in with that they might not be able to find locally.

But does this good outweigh the evils?

Honestly, I’m not sure. If asked to choose one extreme or the other, I’m in favor of a ban – in part because widespread bans could be what forces platforms to finally clean up their act.

I’d still prefer a more nuanced approach.

Something which involves identity verification that’s secure and private to check age and that someone is a human, which addresses the issues plaguing social media that go beyond those simply affecting minors to those affecting users of all ages too, and that gives parents the ability to make decisions for their child (choosing to allow access to certain platforms when they believe their kid is ready).

Though that might be too much to ask of politicians who aren’t as internet savvy as they should be. Maybe as we see more bans over the coming year, they’ll prove me wrong and find an approach that works for everyone.

• Meta has been busy deleting the accounts of under 16s in Australia
• Over 500,000 accounts are gone from Facebook, Instagram, and Threads
• Meta still wants more done to improve age verification

The fallout from the Australian government's decision to ban under-16s from social media continues: Meta has posted an update on the action it's taken to adhere to the new rules, while reiterating its belief that there are better ways to protect teens.

By December 11, a day after the ban came into effect, Meta says it had removed access to 544,052 accounts thought to belong to under-16s in Australia. That number covers the Instagram, Facebook, and Threads platforms all owned by Meta.

The young users affected did get 14 days of notice to download their information and – presumably – let their contacts know where they could be found in the future (Facebook Messenger is actually exempt from the ban, for example).

Australian authorities have introduced the ban in the interests of child safety, citing concerns over screen time, inappropriate contact from adults, and exposure to harmful content – including material depicting violence, bullying, and mental health issues.

'A better way forward'

Meta also uses the opportunity of the update to express its "concerns" about this new ban. "Some of the initial impacts we have seen as a result of the law that suggest it is not meeting its objectives of increasing the safety and well-being of young Australians," writes the Meta team.

"We still believe there is a better way forward, which is age verification and parental approval at the app store level," it added.

That would put the onus on the likes of Google and Apple to verify the age of users. Meta is also pushing a new non-profit called the OpenAge Initiative, which aims to standardize age verification processes – and prevent teens from switching to less well regulated apps that may not be as diligent when it comes to checking how old its users are.

Meta says it will continue to "engage constructively" with the Australian government to "find a better way forward". It doesn't seem to be opposed to age verification per se, but does want it to be more tightly regulated and consistent across platforms.

The entire business model of social media apps is getting as many people as possible to spend as much time as possible inside the apps, of course. Even so, these companies are feeling the pressure to take more responsibility: in the last few years, Meta has added several features for younger users designed to keep them safe online.

• Meta says Instagram password reset emails were triggered by error, not a breach of systems
• Malwarebytes reported 17.5 million account details leaked, possibly from past API incidents (2022 or 2024)
• Hackers sharing authentic data heightens phishing risks; users advised to verify info directly on Meta sites

Some Instagram users have received password reset emails without requesting them - but the company says it hasn't experienced a data breach.

Parent company Meta has issued a statement saying this was not a data breach, and that the accounts were not at risk, at all. Instead, it claims this was an error that allowed third parties to trigger password reset emails, and that is all.

"We fixed an issue that allowed an external party to request password reset emails for some Instagram users," a Meta spokesperson said. "We want to reassure everyone there was no breach of our systems and people's Instagram accounts remain secure. People can disregard these emails and we apologize for any confusion this may have caused."

When was it stolen?

This follows recent reports from Malwarebytes claiming unidentified thread actors had stolen data from 17.5 million Instagram accounts.

The stolen data allegedly included user IDs, usernames, email accounts, phone numbers, names, and postal addresses. According to the researchers, the data ended up on “numerous hacking forums”, where it was said that it was pulled from a 2024 Instagram API leak.

Not everyone agrees with this assessment, though. Some researchers believe the data was, in fact, grabbed during the 2022 API scraping incident. Meta, on the other hand, says it knows nothing of any API incidents in either 2022 or 2024.

Regardless of if the data was stolen in 2022, 2024, or 2026, the fact that hackers are sharing authentic user data on the dark web should be cause for concern enough. With this much information, cybercriminals can launch convincing phishing emails, tricking users into sharing their Instagram login credentials, or even those for Facebook and WhatsApp.

To protect against potential attacks, it would be best to simply ignore all emails claiming to be coming from Meta or its companies, and double-check all information on respective websites, directly.

Via BleepingComputer

The battle against AI content is lost. Slop fills our feeds, and it's up to us to discern what is real. But what if 2026 represents the dawn of a new approach, a flipping of the script where we no longer chase identifying what's artificially created and instead fingerprint the real?

This is the not-necessarily-novel concept presented in a recent New Year's Threads post from Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri.

In it, he acknowledges that "authenticity is fast becoming a scarce resource," and that the bar is shifting from "'can you create?' to 'can you make something that only you could create?'"

Mosseri also writes about more creators shifting to unpolished content that flies in direct conflict with what camera manufacturers are pitching, a sort of idealized world with artificially created bokeh effects. He doesn't say it, but I think Mosseri is actually referring to smartphone companies that are making ever-smarter image processing pipelines that can make any image, object, animal, or person look unnaturally beautiful.

If Mosseri is right, not only do we want more authentic, unvarnished content in our feeds, but we'll also be using AI to help us create this aesthetic.

He writes, "We’ll go from the Midjourney realistic video game aesthetic and imitating Wes Anderson and Studio Ghibli films to being able to direct an AI to create any aesthetic you like, including an imperfect one that presents as authentic."

That, naturally, sounds awful, and Meta, Instagram's parent company, will be among those who provide those tools (along with OpenAI, Google Gemini, Perplexity, and others).

It's a nightmare scenario because the platforms where we will post and try to discern truth will be the same ones offering tools to create a more realistic world that will still be fake.

Let's focus on what's real

Perhaps that's why Mosseri is now pitching a different approach. "There is already a growing number of people who believe, as I do, that it will be more practical to fingerprint real media than fake media," he writes.

Instead of watermarking AI-generated content, which Mosser's platforms are still very much committed to doing, Instagram and other platforms might find ways to label real content before it appears online.

How, of course, is the big question.

Photos coming out of digital cameras and smartphones all get what's known as EXIF (Exchangeable Image Format) data, which can describe the camera, lenses, and settings used, as well as available location and date data. It's not something that can easily bee faked. Video content has similar XMP data.

I'm not certain about how we might fingerprint human-written content or real audio recordings.

Mosseri, though, talks about using some old-school authenticity markers, like checking on the author and what other content they've posted. I don't know if that's something Instagram and others could easily automate, or if that's a job best left to individuals.

Still, I like the intention, especially because the war on fake content is already all but lost.

Recently, I came across an X post from one of my favorite bird photographers. Carl Bovis presented four images and asked which one was AI-generated. I think I accurately identified the too-polished feathers and almost metallic-looking beak of the sparrow eating a red berry, but I honestly couldn't be sure. What I really needed was confirmation that the other three images were, in fact, real.

Having followed Bovis for years, I've done my own form of fingerprinting with the pro photographer. I've seen hundreds of his photos, I know his background, and I trust that what he posts is coming directly from one of his many long-lensed SLRs.

A broader fingerprint effort, like the one proposed by Mosseri, will fail or be largely ineffectual if only one platform adopts it. We need a standard for content IDs that allows any platform to offer us one-touch filters to see only human-generated posts. That right there would be transformative.

Here's hoping 2026 is truly the year of authentic content and fingerprinting real people's posts – it might almost make social media fun and useful again.

At the end of 2024, I wrote that I’d be stepping back from social media in 2025 due to its impact on my daily routine. As TechRadar’s Staff Writer for all things mobile, I know all too well that using my pocket supercomputer to swipe through vertical videos doesn’t exactly count as getting the best possible smartphone experience.

No prizes for guessing what happened next – I didn’t quit. In fact, if I had to guess, I think I’ve used Instagram’s mobile app more this year than in 2024.

And in the spirit of Christmas (or something like that), I’m forgiving myself for that transgression. In the past 12 months, I’ve accepted that, while I still need to cut down my smartphone screen time, social media isn’t going anywhere as a way to make plans and stay in touch, and that I can take on the benefits without dissolving into a puddle of Reels-fueled neuron soup.

However, the last year has also seen the prevalence of AI-generated photos, videos, and audio grow exponentially on social media, spawning memes and misunderstanding in seemingly equal measure. As we recently reported, “slop” was named word of the year by dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster, in reaction to the deluge of low-quality AI content that hit our screens in the last 12 months.

I’ve always felt that it’s unfair to judge a platform solely on its user-uploaded content, so I’ve largely given Meta a pass on each consecutive wave of AI slop, even if I’d rather be nowhere near it myself.

But it increasingly seems like Instagram – famously a home for visual creatives and also an essential lifeline for musicians, actors, and comedians – is leaning towards the type of brainless, inane, and stupefying AI content that is filling user feeds.

I’m frankly troubled by the mid-feed adverts I see for Meta AI, which present as carousels of AI-generated videos and are often a bit messed up in some way or another. I’ve seen grotesque fruit-baby hybrids, Barack Obama DJing (can’t imagine that was sanctioned), and, most confusingly, an overweight Mark Zuckerberg running topless on a treadmill, which I can’t imagine the Meta boss would be too happy about.

As well as being uncanny to look at, these clips seem to be functionally useless and even antithetical to the point of social media. Is Meta hoping I’ll share these to my feed? To my friends? Who wants to see this? Is this self-expression or socially connecting in any way at all? What part of Instagram’s slogan, “Capture, Create, and Share What You Love,” are we dealing with by plastering a poorly rendered Michael Jackson lookalike onto my story?

More than that, this phenomenon doesn’t exactly convince me that Instagram is a good way to use my phone. I've been working on some fresh New Year’s resolutions to help me make better use of the supercomputer in my pocket, and this Meta AI push makes me glad I focused on more productive things in my new list (like, for example, playing more Fortnite).

Frankly, if Instagram keeps investing in this garbage instead of, you know, useful features, I might have to re-up on my mission to remove it from my phone’s storage. The best phones are so powerful and versatile that I'd feel remiss to spend even a second with them looking at this stuff.

So, you can consider this a provisional resolution, caveated by my self-admitted overreliance on Instagram as a platform and social network. If I keep seeing Meta AI content on my feed itself, it might be a sign that Instagram’s place on my phone’s home page could soon be vacant once again.

• Instagram is giving you access to your algorithm
• For now, it's only Reels
• You can even share what you learn about your interests

Some describe social media algorithms as black boxes, dark spaces that have substantial control over what you see but offer virtually zero insight into how they do their dark magic. Instagram is changing that equation today by opening up just a little bit of the inscrutable programming and letting users – with AI's help – take the wheel.

Instagram announced the "new way to control your Instagram experience" in a blog post on Wednesday (December 10), explaining that the change will allow users to both see and control their Reels algorithm.

Reels is the longer-form video content and most closely resembles TikTok, another social media platform with a powerful and inscrutable algorithm.

Don't worry, when you see the new algorithm access icon (two lines with hearts), you won't be looking at code. Instead, using AI in ways it does not explain, Instagram shows you what it understands about your interests. What you watch most or for the longest, what you like, what you share, and even what you quickly swipe through all shape the Reels algorithm. That detail, your interests, will now appear listed in the summary of topics list at the top.

Here's where it gets interesting, though; you can now muck about in your algorithm, entering topics you want to see more of, as well as those you'd rather remove from your feed.

Instagram promises "your Reels will reflect your choices."

Perhaps even more surprising, Instagram will let you share your algorithm, or at least the interests you like, in a Story post.

When I first heard about this, I kind of laughed out loud, since there are more than a few memes about the dangers of, say, your spouse or partner seeing what your algorithm reveals about you.

Reels algorithm access is, apparently, just the start. Instagram promised to bring the feature to Explore "and more places in the app, soon," which we take to mean that eventually, you'll have access to your full Instagram algorithm.

Why now?

After years of criticism that Meta and Instagram have not done enough to protect their users (especially teens) from harmful content, Instagram has been taking a far more aggressive approach to content control. Most of it has been on the side of parental controls. However, this is the first big step to truly putting control in the hands of users.

Most people scratch their heads and wonder why certain things show up in their feeds while other topics do not. This may lift that veil of confusion, but also reveal how Instagram has been watching us. People's Reels feeds should become far more curated and maybe end up feeling like safer spaces.

I am curious about how this might impact advertising since we all know how an in-person conversation with a friend or relative about a potential trip to Paris almost immediately results in Paris videos in our feed (this is not alchemy; the friend has probably searched in Instagram or Facebook about Paris and, since you're connected, well, your feeds is infected with Viva La France). Perhaps now, you can go into your algo center and remove that Paris topic before the full-blown feed infection.

Instagram is likely also doing this to help bring people back to Instagram. There's some indication that Gen Alpha – the next target market – is leaving social media. Perhaps changes like this – real algo control – will help bring them back.

This might also put some pressure on other social media companies like X (formerly Twitter) and, especially, TikTok (which is supposed to soon be US-owned and controlled) to make their algorithms publicly accessible and curatable.

Instagram says Reels algorithm control is rolling out across the US today and will roll out globally (for English-speaking markets) soon.

Check it out and let us know your thoughts – and wild algo discoveries – in the comments below.

• Instagram to return to the office full-time beginning February 2026
• Fully remote workers will continue to be remote, some flexibility remains
• CEO Adam Mosseri also wants to cut down on unnecessary meetings and distractions

Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri has warned that most US employees will soon be told to return to the office on a full-time basis, with the change set to come into effect from February 2, 2026.

Mosseri says the update will make the company “more nimble and creative,” helping it remain competitive as it battles to maintain its market position against other social media apps.

Fully remote employees will retain their status, and some flexibility will remain in place for occasional work-from-home needs, but the message is clear – Instagram is bidding farewell to hybrid working.

Instagram wants workers in five days per week

Although a February date has already been set, New York office workers may see some delays as the company looks to address space constraints. Menlo Park workers may also get the chance to be relocated to San Francisco if the commute time is equal or better.

Mosseri isn’t just bothered about in-person work, though, and the push for productivity is clear. The company will also axe its recurring meetings on a six-monthly basis, unless they’re absolutely necessary.

“We all spend too much time in meetings that are not effective, and it’s slowing us down,” the CEO stated in a memo (via Business Insider). “I also support everyone in making recurring 1:1s biweekly by default and declining meetings if they fall during your focus blocks,” Mosseri added.

In the name of collaboration, there’s also an emphasis on more prototypes and fewer slide decks for product innovation. Strategy documents must be capped to three pages, and meeting goals and key points should be clear from the beginning of any reviews.

“I want most of your time focused on building great products, not preparing for meetings,” he added.

Mosseri promises to delve deeper into the changes at an upcoming All Hands, but warns that 2026 will continue to be a tough year “as was 2025.”

Video time spent on Instagram is up 30% year-over-year, and the company is planning on “[surfacing] content across a broader set of topics that cater to the diverse interests of each person.”

Meta’s revenue was up 26% year-over-year in the three months ending September 30, 2025.

• Damning Reuters report reveals Meta's unwillingness to tackle scams
• 10% of Meta's revenue apparently comes from fraudulent adverts and illegal content
• Meta considered harm reduction under threat from regulators

The number of scam adverts and less than legitimate product listings on social media platforms certainly seems to have dramatically increased in the last few years, but a new report claims the websites themselves could be partly to blame.

Internal projections seen by Reuters reveal Meta, the company behind Facebook and Instagram, apparently earns a projected 10% of its annual revenue from the advertising of scams and banned goods - amounting to around $16 billion.

Documents also suggest the social media conglomerate ‘failed to identify and stop an avalanche of ads’, leaving billions of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp users at risk from the fraudulent ecosystem.

A so-called crackdown

Over the years, Meta has publicized efforts to undergo ‘major crackdowns’ on organized crime, pig-butchering scams, and social engineering attacks - even going so far as to remove up to 2 million accounts from the Facebook platform.

Meta told TechRadar Pro it is 'aggressively fights fraud ' on its platforms, 'because people on our platforms don’t want this content, legitimate advertisers don’t want it and we don’t want it either'.

"Scammers are persistent criminals whose efforts, often driven by ruthless cross-border criminal networks that operate on a global scale, continue to grow in sophistication and complexity. As scam activity becomes more persistent and sophisticated, so do our efforts. Unfortunately, the leaked documents present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams by focusing on our efforts to assess the scale of the challenge, not the full range of actions we have taken to address the problem."

But, these new documents revealed that even marketers that were suspicious enough to be flagged by Meta’s internal warning systems are often allowed to continue, only getting banned once the prediction for fraud reaches 95%.

That means, if Meta is 94% sure that an advert is scamming its users - it’s allowed to continue. Shockingly, Meta actually makes more money from adverts it believes to be scams - charging a higher ad rate as a penalty.

So, is there really much of an incentive for Meta to remove fraudsters preying on users? Even Meta doesn’t think so.

In the documents, Meta reportedly weighs up the revenue it earns from scam adverts, and the regulatory fines that it believes are inevitable if these high-risk scam ads are not mitigated. Note here that Meta is not suggesting it would voluntarily do more to vet advertisers in order to protect consumers, but rather that it would act under threat of impending regulatory penalties.

Thousands of scams have been spotted on Meta platforms with varying degrees of success and severity, but criminals are undoubtedly making a lot of money from these tricks (and so is Meta). In the UK, Meta products were involved in as much as 54% of all payment-related scam losses in 2023, the report reveals - outlining just how endemic this problem is, making it all the more abhorrent that Meta chooses to continue profiting from it.

• Nothing has announced that it will allow users to fully uninstall Meta apps in Nothing OS 4.0
• The move follows backlash after the Nothing Phone 3a Lite shipped with unremovable Meta Services features
• The fix will roll out towards the end of November

Nothing, the UK-based phone maker led by OnePlus founder Carl Pei, found itself facing controversy this week after users spoke out against pre-installed bloatware on the brand’s Phone 3a series of mid-range and budget smartphones.

As Android Authority reports, Nothing recently issued the Android 16-based Nothing OS 4.0 update to its current lineup of smartphones, and while the entire lineup got new features and fixes with the update, Nothing also made it impossible to remove pre-installed apps on the new Phone 3a Lite, including apps like Meta Services and Meta's Facebook app.

Naturally, this caused a stir among the passionate Nothing fan base. As a smaller phone brand, Nothing makes a point of privacy and simplicity – and whatever you think of Meta, there’s no denying that the tech giant doesn’t exactly share this reputation.

Worse still, there's no way to completely remove Meta Services, Meta App Installer, and Meta App Manager from a phone running Nothing OS 4.0 – though, as 9to5Google explains, users can fully uninstall Facebook and Instagram.

Luckily, Nothing has pulled a U-turn on this issue and released a fix. In an update to a prior statement on the Nothing Community forum, Nothing co-founder Akis Evangelidis announced that users will be able to completely uninstall Meta apps, the Meta App Installer, Meta App Manager, and Meta Services with a forthcoming update.

Nothing is targeting the end of November as a deadline to begin rolling out the fix.

In the updated post, Evangelidis wrote: “Previously, these [apps] could only be disabled. While we recommended keeping them active for better stability of pre-installed apps like Instagram or Facebook, we understand that some users prefer full control over what stays on their device.”

Solving an avoidable problem

To be frank, it’s disappointing that Nothing would push pre-installed apps after having such a great year when it comes to hardware.

We’ve been impressed by the Nothing Phone 3, Phone 3a, and Phone 3a Pro (which ranks amongst the best cheap phones), so this issue has flattened the launch of the Phone 3a Lite in comparison.

That’s why I’m hesitant to give Nothing much credit for this latest fix – it’s a solution to a problem that should never have existed.

I understand that economic pressures may lead phone makers to accept payment from major tech companies to pre-install apps, but not allowing users to fully uninstall said software is the real mistake here. That takes bloatware from a day one annoyance to a real problem you might deliberate before you buy a phone.

Anyhow, I’m glad Nothing has corrected course on this – if you’ve been affected by this Nothing issue, let us know in the comments below.

• Instagram’s new Restyle feature uses Meta AI to edit images and videos for Stories
• You can add, remove, or change any element of the uploaded media
• There are preset options or you can use your own prompts

Meta has rolled out a new Instagram editing feature in Stories called Restyle, powered by Meta AI, that lets you add, remove, or change images and videos to match a vision in your imagination (or simply remove a photobomber). The tool is rolling out in the U.S., though the video editing option is less widely available than the still image feature.

All you have to do is add a photo or video to your Story, tap the Restyle icon, and transform your post. The significance of this rollout goes beyond just more fun filters; it could be a major entry point for new AI tool users who wouldn't bother with a unique app but regularly share media on Instagram.

How to use Restyle

Here’s how you actually use Restyle. Open Instagram and tap on the plus sign on your profile pic to start uploading a Story. Pick your photo or video from your camera roll and load it up. In the editor for the Story, look for the paint‑brush‑style Restyle icon in the upper right. Then pick whether you want to Add, Remove, or Change something, or select one of the preset styles.

After picking a style or typing your choice, simply hit Done and in a few seconds you'll see the result. You can redo it by hitting the reload icon to get a slightly different take, or tap Undo if you want to go back to the previous version of the image. Once you're ready, tap Done, and you can upload the Story.

There's also an optional Add Yours sticker if you want your friends to join the trend and share your Story.

For videos, the process is similar, but you’ll see preset effects to choose from like Underwater, Snowstorm, or Fire and flames.

As an example, I took a lovely portrait of my dog wearing a bandana and uploaded it. Then I used Restyle to "Remove the bandana", followed by a request to "Add a superhero costume".

Meta AI decided I meant literally the most famous superhero in the world. Intellectual property rules are clearly not the first priority for the AI in its production. Still, as wonderful as she looked, I didn't want my dog's other identity to be Captain Copyright Infringement, so I used Restyle to "Change the superhero emblem to something related to space and dogs."

I was much happier with that image, so I then asked Restyle to "Change the background to a skyscraper rooftop." You can see the result above.

Comical AI

I then turned to the preset choices for Restyle and chose the sketch option. I wasn't very impressed, so I used Restyle to "Change it to look more like a comic book," which went better, then prompted the AI to "Add details of a comic book called 'Cosmic Canine.'" It's not exactly Jack Kirby, but for only a few seconds wait, it's pretty impressive.

Instagram has competition for AI photo editing tools that make Restyle necessary to keep up both in terms of AI and social media. Google Photos can edit with text prompts, and xAI is aggressively pushing Grok tools on X. And Meta itself has used AI tools in its standalone Meta AI app. But embedding Restyle directly into Stories makes for a much larger number of people who might be at least testing it out.

The Add Yours stickers with your restyled image are clearly aimed at making these AI-enhanced pictures and the tools behind them go viral.

Of course, because the tool uses your uploaded photo or video plus text prompts, you are trusting Meta’s model to match your vision, and any AI tool is going to be flawed sometimes, or simply rip off existing trademarks. Still, while the results are nowhere near human-made illustrations or videos in artistic merit, you'll likely see plenty of people try out at least the pre-made options, if only to see how they or their dog looks as a non-copyrighted felt figure.

• Discord, Pinterest, and Quora perform best in new 2025 social media privacy ranking
• Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, TikTok, and X face penalties for poor privacy protections
• AI training policies and regulatory fines shape platform standings in this year’s analysis

Facebook, WhatsApp, and Instagram have once again been flagged as among the most privacy-invasive social media platforms.

Incogni’s updated Social Media Privacy Ranking report for 2025 placed Meta’s products alongside TikTok at the bottom of its list.

X, the platform owned by divisive billionaire Elon Musk, also scored poorly in several categories, although it performed better than Meta’s services in some areas, positioning it mid-table.

Discord shows how it should be done

Incogni’s researchers evaluated the 15 most widely used social media platforms worldwide, weighing them against 14 privacy criteria grouped into six categories.

These included data collection, transparency, AI data use, regulatory transgressions, user control, and ease of access.

The methodology focused on how easily an ordinary user can understand and act on privacy policies, not only whether the information exists in the first place.

At the other end of the spectrum, Discord, Pinterest, and Quora performed best in this year’s ranking.

Discord topped the list after avoiding many of the pitfalls other platforms faced, especially its stance on not providing user data for training generative AI models.

Pinterest came in second, due mostly to strong user options and relatively few regulatory penalties. Quora took third thanks to limited data collection.

It will likely come as little surprise to most that Meta’s platforms were penalized heavily across all categories.

Facebook stood out for repeated regulatory fines, including multiple violations of GDPR rules in Europe, as well as penalties in the US and other jurisdictions.

Instagram and WhatsApp also contributed to Meta’s low ranking, with policies allowing the collection of sensitive information such as health data and sexual orientation.

X faced penalties for extensive data collection and past privacy-related fines, although it ranked higher than Meta and TikTok in some areas.

It was among the easiest platforms for users to delete accounts from, and its rate of disclosing information to government agencies was lower than most.

Still, its policies allow user data to be used for training AI models, which lowered its overall privacy score.

AI-related concerns had a much larger impact compared to last year.

Reddit, which had previously been considered one of the safer platforms, fell in the ranking after its content was made available to AI developers.

Discord’s avoidance of such practices helped propel it upward.

Transparency was another big factor. Many social platforms lacked clear details on how quickly data is deleted when users close their accounts.

TikTok, Telegram, and Reddit offered limited details, which lowered their scores.

Snapchat was also singled out for disclosing information to government agencies at a higher rate than most competitors.

Ultimately, the report concludes that user privacy remains unevenly handled across platforms. Consent can only be meaningful if information is both available and easy to understand.

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• Facebook and Instagram will soon offer an ad-free option to UK users
• It will cost £2.99 per month, or £3.99 if subscribing on Android or iOS
• This will be the only way to fully avoid targeted ads

A big change is coming to Facebook and Instagram in the UK, as in the coming weeks, users will be given the option to pay a monthly subscription in order to avoid adverts.

The subscription is priced at £2.99 (roughly $4 / AU$6) per month on the web, or £3.99 (around $5.50 / AU$8) if you subscribe via iOS or Android (due to those platforms taking a cut of the fee), and if you choose to pay then you’ll get an ad-free experience on both platforms.

It’s worth noting that if you have multiple accounts, then the subscription will be applied to every account that you’ve added to Meta Accounts Center, but you’ll automatically be charged a reduced price of £2 (roughly $2.70 / AU$4) per month on the web or £3 (around $4 / AU$6) via iOS or Android for each additional account.

Putting a price on privacy

As subscriptions go this isn’t too pricey, but given that it’s the only way to interact with these platforms without receiving targeted ads it doesn’t feel ideal.

Essentially, it means you have to pay for Meta to respect your privacy, since while there are some ad toggles on their services to customize what data advertisers have access to, you can’t completely remove the targeted nature of adverts.

That’s why this change is happening, as the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO), which is the UK’s data watchdog, has concluded that UK users should be able to opt out of targeted ads.

Speaking to The Guardian, a spokesperson for the ICO said “this moves Meta away from targeting users with ads as part of the standard terms and conditions for using its Facebook and Instagram services, which we’ve been clear is not in line with UK law.”

Personally, this subscription doesn’t appeal to me – partially because I don’t use these services much anyway, but also because I don’t like the idea of having to pay to maintain my privacy. Still, it’s arguably better than not even having the choice, as has been the case until now.

One option that isn't available is a free, middle ground of non-personalized ads. This is why Meta hasn't launched a similar offering in the EU, as regulators said the simple "binary choice" violates the Digital Markets Act (DMA).

Though it’s worth noting that even with the subscription, Meta will of course still collect your data to personalize its services, it just won’t use it to serve you ads. So if you don’t trust Meta with your data at all then there’s a simpler, cheaper solution – don't use its apps at all.

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Nepal is just the latest in a long list of countries shutting down access to social media platforms during times of political instability – and at least the 8th nation to do so in 2025 so far.

Authorities in Nepal began enforcing a ban on all major social media apps and websites starting from Thursday, September 4. 26 social media platforms were impacted, including Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, and X. The government justified the ban by saying that these companies failed to comply with local registration rules – TechCrunch reported – as well as the ban serving as a way of tackling fake news, hate speech, and online fraud, according to the BBC.

However, the ban would then be lifted on Tuesday, September 9, and, as when similar incidents have occurred elsewhere, Nepalese citizens have turned en masse to the best VPN services to stay connected.

One of the most secure and reliable free VPN apps on the market, Proton VPN recorded spikes in usage of over 8,000% across the country starting from Thursday.

A company spokesperson told TechRadar that, at the time of writing, Proton VPN usage still remains above baseline in Nepal, despite the rate of downloads starting to decrease as the ban was loosened.

How a VPN can help?

A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts all users' internet connections, while masking their IP address for extra privacy and security.

The latter skill is exactly what's needed to be able to bypass otherwise geo-blocked content online, such as a censored website, like in the case of Nepal.

All that's needed is connecting to a VPN server based outside of Nepal (and any other country enforcing similar restrictions) to trick the local internet service provider (ISP) into granting access to censored sites.

Social media bans – a quick 2025 overview

Nepal is the 8th example in 2025 so far of a government opting to restrict social media access as political tensions grow across the country, impacting people's right to free speech and access to information.

Only this week, Turkey enforced a 24-hour blockade on all major social media apps on Monday, September 8, throttling access to X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp. That was at least the second time it happened this year, with a similar ban occurring in March.

Proton VPN downloads also skyrocketed in Indonesia at the end of August, with spikes of "+1300% overnight amid reports of social media blocks during anti-government protests," wrote Proton VPN's General Manager, David Peterson, on a post on X.

Social media restrictions also occurred in 2025 across Kenya, Tanzania, Togo, DR Congo, and Venezuela. The latter country even targeted VPN usage by blocking over 20 VPN websites.

In 2024, Proton recorded spikes in VPN usage across 119 countries during times of political crisis, over what experts at Access Now described as "the worst year on record for internet freedoms," yet again.

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• Turkey blocked access to all main social media platforms for about 24 hours since the evening of Sunday, September 7, 2025
• X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp have all been impacted, according to an internet watchdog
• Proton VPN has recorded a spike of over 500% on an hourly basis on the night of Sunday

Update: Access to social media was restored on September 8, 2025, after publication. We made some edits to the copy to reflect this.

Turkey has enforced a 24-hour blockage to prevent access to all main social media platforms as political tensions grew in the country.

X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp all went dark on multiple networks starting from the evening of Sunday, September 7, 2025, as recorded by internet watchdog NetBlocks. "The incident comes as the main opposition party CHP [Republican People’s Party] calls for rallies after police blockade its Istanbul headquarters," explained NetBlocks.

Isik Mater, Director of Research at NetBlocks, confirmed to Techradar that the situation remained unchanged in the afternoon of Monday, September 8, "with networks in Istanbul specifically targeted," she added. Restrictions would then be lifted a few hours later – precisely "a day after broad restrictions were imposed," NetBlocks reported.

Citizens have not wasted time, immediately turning to the best VPN apps to retain access to blocked social media platforms. Proton VPN, for example, recorded a spike in signups of more than 500% on an hourly basis on the night of Sunday.

Talking to TechRadar, a Proton spokesperson suggests enabling its Stealth protocol and the alternative routing option for a better chance of evading social media blocks. "It may require a few extra steps and a few tries, but this is the optimal way to connect in these circumstances."

Proton also recommends downloading its virtual private network (VPN) app only via the official app store. On desktop, users can do so via Proton's GiftHub page in case its official website is also blocked.

Not the first time

This is far from the first time Proton VPN, currently ranked as one of the best free VPN services on the market, has recorded similar spikes in usage in Turkey as citizens attempt to navigate online disruptions.

In March, the provider registered a spike of +1100% as the government shut down all main social media platforms for 42 hours.

Before that, in 2024, Proton VPN signups skyrocketed by 1,400% in October and 4,500% in August amid similar blocks on social media services.

Citizens increasingly turned to Proton VPN in 2023, too. The company recorded a staggering 15,000% increase in February after Twitter was blocked following a deadly earthquake and a 2,100% spike in May as citizens prepared for potential blocks ahead of the presidential elections.

All this means, Proton explains, that many internet users in Turkey have already downloaded Proton VPN over the years. Therefore, "the increases are typically smaller than in other regions," a Proton VPN spokesperson told TechRadar.

Some people may have turned to other VPN services, too. Surfshark, for example, also confirmed to TechRadar an increase in VPN usage starting from Sunday night.

These spikes have occurred despite both Proton VPN and Surfshark being among the 27 VPN providers restricted in Turkey, alongside NordVPN, ExpressVPN, and others. Specifically, their official websites are blocked in the country.

All in all, according to Surfshark's data, this newest case marks Turkey’s 18th internet restriction since 2015, affecting X, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok, and WhatsApp.

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• Instagram for the iPad is available now
• It arrives 15 years after the original iPhone app launch
• The app includes a new Following tab

It's been one of the strangest anomalies in tech for several years, the lack of an official Instagram app for the iPad, but Meta's engineers have finally found time to right this wrong: Instagram for the iPad is available now.

If you own one of Apple's tablets, you can now settle back and enjoy Instagram Feeds, Stories, and Reels on a larger screen. Reels will be what pop up first, because Instagram reckons these are perfect for lean-back entertainment (and also because... TikTok).

"People have asked for this for a while," says the announcement blog post with a straight face. "We've taken the time to design an experience that optimizes your favorite parts of Instagram for a bigger screen."

Instagram for iOS made its debut in October 2010, and requests for an iPad app started almost immediately. While apps gradually appeared for Android, the web, and even Windows Mobile over the years, demands for an iPad app were politely swatted away.

A new Following tab

You get a full suite of features for creating new content in the iPad app, just as you do in the iPhone equivalent. You can also access your Instagram inbox (with the conversation list and the chats themselves side by side) and your activity and notification feeds.

There is one new screen here, called Following. It has three tabs: All (posts from accounts you follow), Friends (posts from people you follow and who follow you back), and Latest (posts from accounts you follow, in chronological order).

It'll be interesting to see if this tab makes its way into Instagram's other apps: As per the announcement, it was introduced in response to "requests for easier ways to make sure you're not missing updates from your favorite accounts".

Based on a quick glance at the app, it seems to do a decent job of making use of the extra screen space. You should find the Instagram app for iPad available now in the Apple App Store, and it can be downloaded for free for any tablet running iPadOS 15.1 or later.

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A creator’s Instagram inbox used to be a beautiful mess. One minute it was quiet. The next, a product Reel pops off and they get buried in fire emojis, product questions, and a dozen “Is this still in stock?” DMs.

It was certainly exciting. And a bit overwhelming? Manually keeping up often meant lost sleep, missed sales, and a lot of copy-pasting.

But now, that chaos is being turned into opportunity: For creators and entrepreneurs alike, the DM is the new storefront, help desk, and loyalty engine, all rolled into one. It's where trust is built, products get discovered, and sales happen at the speed of a double tap.

As conversational commerce takes off, more creators and entrepreneurs are building entire revenue engines inside their DMs. And equipped with smart automation, they’ve honed their social platforms to evolve beyond customer engagement to driving discovery, conversion, and customer loyalty in real time.

Historically, traditional businesses have enjoyed a rich ecosystem of tools, whether that be automations, webhooks, email integrations, and marketing funnels. They made scaling and systematizing their customer journeys seamless. Social media, by contrast, was long a closed garden: a powerful engagement space but one that limited creators’ ability to fully build and scale businesses because of restricted access.

But that’s all changing. Social platforms are opening up, and integrating with search engines and third-party tools. Creators and entrepreneurs can build sophisticated marketing and sales systems within these once closed environments – meaning social media channels are ultimately leveling the playing field. They’re transformed into robust business platforms where engagement, discovery, and conversion seamlessly intertwine.

From clicks to conversations, why funnels are flattening

The old-school path to a sale was long: social post → link in bio → website → maybe a sale. But let's face it, we’re living in the age of instant gratification. People expect responses yesterday. Slow replies can lead to frustration, while quick, helpful answers leave a lasting impression.

Enter: automation.

Automation ensures no message gets lost, keeping your audience happy and engaged. It's reshaping the sales funnel. Instead of sending traffic away, creators are closing the loop inside the platforms themselves, often in one message. In fact, 71% of consumers say they expect to interact with brands via messaging platforms. And with an average response time of 2 minutes (vs. 17 hours for email), DMs are simply faster and smarter.

To be clear, this shift isn’t about ditching websites. Rather, brands need to meet their buyers where they’re at – and remove the friction between intent and action. DMs essentially pre-qualify intent to purchase. By the time a consumer clicks through to a link provided via DM, they’re warmer and more likely to convert.

And the numbers back it up. Some creators report conversion rates as high as 85–98% when routing sales through DMs. Others have seen revenue spike by tens of thousands of dollars in a single month, simply by automating responses they once handled manually. One campaign helped drive over 100,000 page views from just a single trigger. These are all proof that messaging is a real growth engine.

As buyers spend more time in chat-based environments, the most agile businesses are revamping their approach to building and driving action.

Personalization that scales:

Customers crave human connection and messaging platforms deliver it. With tools that pull in browsing behavior, purchase history, and real-time context, entrepreneurs and creators alike can now offer VIP-style service to every shopper. Think: automated coupon drops, back-in-stock alerts, or custom product recommendations – all within the chat thread.

This is the major shift automation enables: authentic presence at scale. For the first time, creators and entrepreneurs no longer have to choose between being responsive and being real. With AI, they can stay present in thousands of conversations without losing the tone, timing, or trust that made a brand reputable in the first place.

However, the power of this movement lies in the timing. Automations show up exactly when they’re needed. Whether that’s a discount sent at the moment of hesitation or a restock alert that feels like it was sent by a personal shopper. The result? Higher open rates, faster response times, and better conversion across the board.

Even solo creators are now delivering high-touch experiences that rival big brands. The difference is, it’s happening one-to-one and in real time, without a massive team.

Where there’s a DM, there’s a purchasing decision

Website analytics can tell that someone clicked. That they spent 42 seconds on the product page. Maybe they even added something to the cart. But that’s still guesswork. An entrepreneur is left interpreting behavior, hoping it means something. But a DM that says, “Hey, do you have this in stock?” That’s clear as day: a customer is getting ready to buy.

Conversations are becoming the new top-of-funnel. When a customer initiates a message, they’re sending a clear intent signal. One you can act on immediately. Share a size guide. Offer a promo. Drop a product link right into the thread. No forms, no delays.

To be clear: By no means does this replace the website. In fact, quite the opposite. DMs often serve as the warm introduction that makes the click-through more valuable. The result? Higher intent traffic, better conversion rates, and fewer missed opportunities.

Because when someone takes the time to message a brand, they’re making active purchasing decisions and creating opportunities to act on an intent signal in real-time: Offer a discount. Suggest the right size. Trigger a purchase link. That’s why more entrepreneurs are shifting from pageviews to conversations. And when entrepreneurs and creators have automation set up, they can act on those signals instantly.

The smartest businesses — and creators — aren’t waiting around for clicks or form fills. They’re meeting their audience where the conversation is already happening: in the DMs.

Because in today’s attention economy, speed matters. Relevance matters. And connection always matters. Together, they create real moments of engagement that build trust, strengthen relationships, and drive meaningful revenue, all without slowing down momentum.

We've featured the best ecommerce software.

This article was produced as part of TechRadarPro's Expert Insights channel where we feature the best and brightest minds in the technology industry today. The views expressed here are those of the author and are not necessarily those of TechRadarPro or Future plc. If you are interested in contributing find out more here: https://www.techradar.com/news/submit-your-story-to-techradar-pro

• Surfshark has conducted a review of location-hungry social media apps, including X, Instagram, and Snapchat
• Of the 10 social media apps analyzed, X demands the most granular location data
• Data was collected in August 2025 from the Apple App Store

Think you’ve got your privacy covered? It could be time to give that a rethink, especially if you’re a regular user of X and other social media apps.

A study from leading VPN provider Surfshark has analyzed the default location permissions required by the top 10 social media apps in the Apple App Store and found that most of them are very data-hungry – if not stalker-y.

Elon Musk’s X and Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram, Threads, and Facebook especially know a lot about where you are… even if you’re using one of the best VPN apps.

Why do social media want your location data?

Your smartphone records two types of location data: precise and coarse.

Coarse data is a zoomed-out, low-resolution option that shares your general location in the world. The precise option relies on GPS, Bluetooth, and even IP addresses to determine your exact location based on nearby networks. It is the latter data that X and other networks are using, to varying degrees.

As Surfshark Chief Technology Officer, Donatas Budvytis, explains, precise location data falls under the most sensitive user data category because it can be linked to highly personal behavior and routines.

"This all can lead to building your profile, predicting behavior, or can be used for targeted manipulation and discrimination," said Budvytis.

Location data might be helpful at times. For example, it adds some useful context to photos (and helps you find a specific image years later). It can also help you locate interesting sights and businesses nearby. Social networks, however, seem to be enjoying just a little bit too much of it.

Surfshark has discovered that while eight popular social networks collect precise location data, X is especially keen on it. Instagram, Threads, and Facebook all need a lot, as does Pinterest. Snapchat needs less; LinkedIn and YouTube require almost none.

Collecting user information in this way allows social networks to offer advertisers a better reach, ensuring targeted ads based on your location. They might even send you marketing outreach messages using this sort of data.

According to researchers, X and Pinterest may even use location data to track users. There is no clarity as to how this information is used or whether it is available to data brokers. In such a scenario, various information from other apps could be used in tandem to establish more specific and valuable data about your actions and interests.

Can’t you just use a VPN?

VPNs are great for specific privacy uses, but when it comes to location data collected using GPS and other networks, a VPN is less effective.

Because the VPN encrypts your internet access and routes it via a secure VPN server, only your IP address can be obfuscated. Social networks that rely on GPS and proximity to other networks – perhaps railway stations, or city centre networks – can overlook the notion that your IP address is set to Berlin if your GPS says London.

While a VPN is definitely recommended for public Wi-Fi, it’s only going to prevent bad actors with access to the network. Elon Musk and co can still record your location.

So, can you stop X from tracking you?

All social media apps have settings that you can use to tweak what information is collected. So, while you might be okay sharing photos and (potentially embarrassing) thoughts and opinions, you can at least control some of these privacy options.

In the case of X, you can open Settings > Privacy and safety > Location information and disable all three options (tap the third, Explore settings, to toggle it off) to reduce the social network’s hunger for your activities.

Other apps should have similar options. You can, of course, also disable your phone’s GPS when it isn’t required, and review your phone’s location services settings.

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• If you're one of those users, there's a way to make sure your location settings are turned off for the new Instagram Map

Instagram Maps is one of the latest additions to the app’s interface, and while it’s only been a week since it was rolled out, it hasn’t left the best impression on users – myself included.

Along with a slew of other features, including a new Friends tab in the Reels page, Instagram Maps is a new function in the Messages section that allows you to share your real-time location with friends. It’s very similar to Snap Maps, which has been around for nearly eight years.

According to Meta’s announcement, Instagram Maps aims to provide ‘content to help you and your friends connect with the world around you,’ be that viewing Stories from a live music gig or finding a trending hang-out spot. The company has iterated that the new feature is ‘opt-in’ only and seems to be turned off by default, but users are still far from happy about it.

A new way to connect, or an invasion of privacy?

While it’s obvious that this is another attempt to overtake Snapchat as the leading messaging service for younger users, it hasn’t worked well in Instagram’s favor. The main concern is the increased risk to users ' safety, especially when it comes to stalking.

Reddit has been a hot spot for people to vent their anger (see below), with one user posting ‘I wonder how many murders this will assist’.

Instagram has debuted a new maps feature that shows your location to others. And Internet users are furious from r/technology

But how is this any different from Snap Maps, you may ask? Well, the main distinction people are making is that Snapchat is a more personal app, and Instagram is not.

In the case of Snapchat, the friend-adding process is more discreet, as you have to enter specific usernames to add people, for the most part. While there’s the ‘Find friends’ feature and a search bar, your request still has to be approved by another user before you can start messaging each other.

When it comes to Instagram, having a private account means you get to choose who follows you, but those with a public account can be followed by anyone. The search function also makes it easier to find people to follow and shows a user’s full account if it’s public, which Snapchat does not do.

How to make sure Instagram Maps is turned off

Whether you’re an iOS or Android user, there’s a way to ensure your location is hidden from the new Instagram Maps feature. As mentioned, the feature is opt-in and is turned off by default, but here’s how you can make sure it’s disabled completely.

Open the Instagram app and go to the Messages tab, where you’ll find the Map at the top of your inbox. Tap it, then select the settings icon in the top right, which will present you with different location sharing options. You’ll want to select the one marked ‘No one’, and then tap the Update button to save.

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Spending time on the internet in 2025 is proving to be more difficult than ever before. After all, image generation tools are readily accessible in AI products like ChatGPT, and video generation software like Google's Veo 3 is available to the general public.

We're still at a point in the AI-powered internet journey where I'd argue it's still easy enough to tell what's real and what's not. That said, today's AI image and video tools are more powerful than ever, and the scary thing is: this is the worst they'll ever be.

The other day, while browsing Instagram, I stumbled across a new post from France and Real Madrid soccer superstar, Kylian Mbappé. Widely regarded as one of the best players in the world, the image showcased an incredible bicycle kick he had performed in the Club World Cup quarter-final the night before.

The thing is, while the image appeared normal at first glance, a closer inspection revealed some seriously bad editing, or quite possibly AI image generation.

You see, zoom into the crowd watching Mbappé's acrobatics and you'll see a Picasso-esque abstract work of art, people merging into each other, and something more akin to a horror movie than a soccer field. All of the faces blur together like a nightmare.

Initially, I couldn't quite believe that a social media admin for an Instagram account with over 124 million followers would use AI to enhance an image. But then I thought about it some more, and of course, AI has infiltrated the social profiles of public figures. It's everywhere.

What's real anymore?

You might be wondering why Kylian Mbappé's social media team used AI to edit this photo in the first place. After all, according to official reports, there were over 76,000 fans in MetLife Stadium for the game.

Since it started a few weeks ago, the FIFA Club World Cup has been plagued with stories of low attendance rates, with one report claiming the tournament had over 1 million empty seats in the group stage alone.

Now, 76,000 is closer to MetLife's 82,500 capacity than some of the other examples of low attendance in the tournament, but considering the terrible photo edits to the crowd, did Mbappé's incredible goal fall into the line of sight of empty seats?

Thinking about the context of the tournament and the badly edited photo, this is the conclusion that I'd feel most comfortable putting forward. After all, sometimes you have to call a spade a spade. Why would anyone play with the crowd capacity other than to fill gaps?

Whether Mbappe's photo was AI-edited or badly edited by a human, the world of photo editing on social media is nothing new. Since the inception of platforms like Facebook and Instagram, we've all had to adapt to the 21st-century way of living, which often includes curating your best angles and happiest moments online.

In the past, influencers would slim down their waists using apps on their iPhones or by manually editing the photo. Now, AI can do it all with the press of a button. And that's not all, AI-edited photos are only the beginning.

Whether that's fully AI-generated influencers scoring brand deals, AI-generated YouTube channels garnering millions of views and subscribers, or AI beauty pageants, we no longer live in a world where it's easy to tell what's real on social media and what's not. The thing is, have we ever been able to? Or is AI just making it easier than ever before to bend reality to fit a narrative?

As someone who has used multiple AI photo editing tools for testing purposes, I'm fairly confident that Mbappé's terrible editing is the work of artificial intelligence, and most probably Apple's mediocre Clean Up tool.

This clear example of heavily-edited photography shines a light, not only on bad editing, but also on the fact that if bad edits slip through the cracks, there's a high chance most of the posts we see aren't actually rooted in real life.

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Milla Sofia lives in Helsinki, spends weekends on luxury yachts, and recently signed a fashion deal with a Finnish phone accessories store. She also doesn’t exist, not in the real world. She's an AI-generated influencer, a pure creation of software with good lighting, designed to help sell products and generate money for her developer.

The synthetic influencer has a well-curated Instagram page full of styled outfit shots, beach pics, and confident captions that sound exactly like the templates companies issue to influencer partners explaining what to write for their sponsored posts. The AI brand ambassador claims to be “always on the grind” after studying at the “University of Life,” and majoring in “self-adaptive learning and data-driven mastery.” Of course she did. The digital model has nearly 324,000 Instagram followers and thousands more on X.

Milla Sofia was created to be the face of a single Finnish e-commerce brand. The project snowballed when people started really engaging with the AI. The follower count, comments, and requests for dates, among other metrics, convinced the developers that their AI employee had greater potential than a personality stitched together from prompt engineering and Pinterest posts might suggest.

AI influence

She's far from unique as an entirely AI-produced influencer. Lil Miquela, another entirely fictional influencer, has amassed more than two million Instagram followers and secured brand partnerships with major tech and fashion brands, thanks in part to her songs being shared on Spotify.

And there are more popping up all the time, produced by developers, digital artists, or marketing teams with a plan that doesn't involve paying a human model or influencer.

Lil Miquela’s team reportedly charges tens of thousands of dollars per post. Some CGI influencers are pulling in over six figures a year, and they never call in sick, never ask for a raise, and don’t require craft services on set. It’s influencer marketing minus the human influencer.

For all the novelty, the very real money ensures that more AI influencers will arise and that brands will pay to be associated with them. Besides the price, you can see the appeal of the idea to a brand.

AI influencers don’t have bad days. They don’t get involved in scandals. They don’t develop a sudden taste for political takes that might alienate half your customer base. They say what you tell them to say and wear what you pick. They are infinitely brand-safe because they have no soul to rebel with.

It's like the old-fashioned corporate mascots but taken to a new level, combining utter artifice with the vogue for "authentic and real" in marketing through influencers.

Whether this is an abuse of the implicit trust between companies and consumers is debatable. Many followers might think Milla is real, and certainly, plenty have complimented her dress in a photo, perhaps imagining a connection. When they find out they just complimented some pixels shaped by a Finnish man with a talent for writing Midjourney prompts, will they feel betrayed, or just accept it as 21st-century advertising magic?

Social media has never been about reality, of course. But there was still a human on the other end of the selfie stick in most influencer posts. With AI influencers, the feedback loop feels broken. You’re no longer responding to a person, just a product wearing a cunning disguise as a person.

The shine of AI influencers is strong right now, but it could fade. As much as we love polish, people also constantly talk about craving authenticity. And if that synthetic smile can't sell things to you anymore, the companies might just have to crawl back to their human partners.

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• Iran VPN usage has been skyrocketing since Friday, reaching peaks of over 700% increase so far
• Authorities imposed new internet restrictions on Friday following Israeli airstrikes
• Online commentators have also reported some VPN throttling issues

VPN usage in Iran has been skyrocketing since Friday, June 13, 2025, as citizens are looking for ways to keep accessing the global internet.

Iranian authorities imposed new internet restrictions on Friday following the first Israeli airstrikes. These measures follow threats of legal actions coming from Iran's Prosecutor General against media and social media users for content that "disrupts society's psychological security," IranWire reported.

According to the latest data coming from Top10VPN, the demand for the best VPN apps in Iran has seen peaks of up to 707% over the baseline level.

Specifically, VPN usage began rising on Friday by 425%, reached a 530% increase the following day, and over 700% on Sunday. While the data for Monday remains incomplete, experts recorded a rise in demand of at least 623% at the time of writing.

Commenting on the findings, the Head of Research at Top10VPN, Simon Migliano, told TechRadar: "The decision by the Iranian authorities to impose internet restrictions as its citizens suffer such incredible upheavals is simply cruel. It’s no surprise then that Iranians are turning to VPNs in such huge numbers, given the circumstances."

Despite these numbers, there have also been some reports of VPN throttling as users lamented that their VPN apps are not working at all times.

Are VPNs legal in Iran?

A virtual private network (VPN) encrypts all internet connections while spoofing a user's real IP address location. This skill is exactly what's needed to bypass geo-restrictions like those in place in Iran.

Iranian authorities know this very well and have been busy preventing the use of Iran VPN over the years.

For example, in 2023, Iran was second only to China for VPN censorship. This also occurred in 2024, when Iran topped the VPN censoring list across the country's official app stores.

Not only VPN-targeted blocking, though. The regime has even challenged the legality of using a VPN in the first place. In February 2024, Iran outlawed "unauthorized" VPNs, banning their usage without a legal permit. Three months later, the government also resurrected an internet bill that could put VPN usage at risk even more.

Despite all these efforts, the usage of VPN-like tools remains high even after authorities lifted the 2-year blockage on WhatsApp and Google Play last January. Now, people have been turning to this circumventing software en masse, no matter the consequences.

"When your home is at risk and loved ones are in danger, it’s critical that you can reliably access messaging apps, social media, and international news sites. That VPNs are banned will be the last thing on anyone’s mind right now in Iran," said Migliano.

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• Security researchers found three malicious PyPI packages
• The packages had around 7,000 downloads
• They were designed to check for active email accounts

Security researchers have found some of the tools cybercriminals are using to steal people’s Instagram and TikTok accounts - on PyPI.

The Python Package Index (PyPI), one of the world’s biggest repositories of Python code, is often abused to holst malicious code, or trick software developers into downloading and running tainted code in their projects.

In this case, security researchers from Socket found three packages, named “checker-SaGaF”, “steinlurks”, and “sinnercore”. Cumulatively, these three had around 7,000 downloads before being pulled from the platform.

Credential stuffing and password spraying

The first two acted as email address validators, cross-referencing supplied email addresses with TikTok and Instagram APIs, to see if they are associated with accounts on the platform. While simply checking if an email address is valid doesn’t seem to be particularly harmful, it is an important step in cybercriminal activity, the researchers explained.

"Once threat actors have this information, just from an email address, they can threaten to dox or spam, conduct fake report attacks to get accounts suspended, or solely confirm target accounts before launching a credential stuffing or password spraying exploit," said Socket’s Olivia Brown.

"Validated user lists are also sold on the dark web for profit. It can seem harmless to construct dictionaries of active emails, but this information enables and accelerates entire attack chains and minimizes detection by only targeting known-valid accounts."

The third package, “sinnercore”, triggers the “forgot password” flow for a given username on Instagram.

The news comes roughly a month after researchers found two malicious packages on PyPI, posing as fixes for a popular, legitimate package. The malware was designed to steal people’s cryptocurrency, which is a popular attack vector on PyPI. In this case, the legitimate package is used in building “hot wallets” - software wallets for cryptocurrencies. Despite being obvious malware, the two packages still managed to rake in more than 37,000 downloads before being pulled.

Via The Hacker News

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• Meta addresses the FTC's complaints over Instagram and WhatsApp acquisitions
• It says quality and output have improved since it took over ownership
• It added that the FTC's evidence was speculative

Meta has filed a Rule 52(c) motion for judgement, claiming that the FTC has failed to prove its case relating to an antitrust lawsuit it brought on over Meta's acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp.

According to Meta, no distinct monopoly power evidence has been shown – being that Meta's apps are free to use, traditional pricing-based monopoly indicators don't apply.

The social media giant also noted that the FTC failed to show that it had reduced the quality or output of its services, instead arguing that user engagement has grown and app quality has improved since it took over.

Meta says the FTC has no evidence over its social media monopoly

In its early days, Instagram was a small photo-sharing app with limited features, no revenue, and poor infrastructure. The company proudly proclaims to have massively improved the app's quality, reach, and features post-acquisition - with co-founder Kevin Systrom testifying to the fact that Meta had accelerated the app's growth, allowing Instagram to "thrive."

Meta also added that WhatsApp was focused on simple messaging before it was bought out, with no plans to add social features or ads, therefore it was not deemed a competitive threat to Facebook.

As a whole, the FTC's evidence has been widely criticized by Meta, with even the FTC's lead expert admitting that much of the competitive harm claim was speculative.

"The FTC has no evidence that Meta has a 60 percent share of any market that includes TikTok or YouTube along with Snapchat," the motion added.

Meta also noted: "Virtually every feature of TikTok exists on Instagram (and Facebook), and virtually every feature of Instagram exists on TikTok."

The social media giant's conclusion is simple: "The Court should enter judgment in Meta’s favor under Rule 52(c)."

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• Scammers exploit trending topics to trick viewers into losing crypto
• Bitdefender warns millions at risk from hijacked content creator accounts
• Cyberattacks now target influencers across YouTube, Instagram, and beyond

Cybercriminals are hijacking popular YouTube channels at an alarming rate, exposing viewers to scams, malware, and data theft - and with billions of views and millions of followers at stake, one wrong click can have devastating consequences.

New research by Bitdefender Labs claims social media account takeovers surged throughout 2024 and continued evolving into early 2025.

Content creators and influencers with significant followings and view counts have become primary targets.

Verification before interaction

Bitdefender detected over 9,000 malicious livestreams on YouTube in 2024. These are often hosted on hijacked channels that impersonate trusted brands and public figures to spread fraud and malware.

One such compromised account had a total view count of 12.4 billion; if just 1% of viewers were deceived, 124 million users would be affected.

Attackers frequently impersonate popular brands like Tesla, Ripple, or SpaceX, hosting fake livestreams featuring deepfakes of public figures such as Elon Musk or Donald Trump to promote cryptocurrency scams and phishing links.

Beyond YouTube, Instagram has also been a major target. Hackers impersonate Meta or Instagram Support in phishing emails, clone login pages, and manipulate creators into sharing SMS verification codes.

Malicious sponsorships are another method of infiltration. Cybercriminals lure creators into downloading malware-laced files disguised as promotional content. Malvertising - ads for fake AI tools or games like GTA VI - that install info-stealers and remote access trojans on victims’ devices are also common tactics.

Events that draw large online audiences, such as Apple keynotes, the XRP-SEC lawsuit, or CS2 tournaments, are frequently exploited. Attackers use these moments of peak interest to launch scams disguised as official livestreams or contests.

For instance, during the 2025 White House Crypto Summit, fake YouTube streams promoted fraudulent airdrops to trick viewers into surrendering sensitive information or cryptocurrency.

How to stay safe

To stay safe, creators are urged to use the best browsers with built-in security features, enable multi-factor authentication (MFA), and closely monitor account activity for suspicious changes. Scrutinizing unexpected sponsorship offers, especially those tied to trending topics, is also essential.

It’s recommended to implement the best DDoS protection to guard against service disruptions following account takeovers, and to use a reliable proxy service to add a layer of anonymity and security when managing accounts across platforms.

Bitdefender also advises creators to train team members on current threats and to stay updated through official security bulletins from platforms and cybersecurity researchers.

Tools like Bitdefender Security for Creators offer dedicated protection, including 24/7 account monitoring, scam email filters, and guided recovery options in the event of a breach.

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• Instagram Edits is out now as a free video editor on Android and iOS
• It's Meta's answer to CapCut with a major emphasis on integration with the main Instagram platform
• Edits also features some AI-powered tools like Cutouts and Animate

Instagram’s answer to CapCut is finally here. Edits was first teased by Adam Mosseri, the Meta-owned social media giant's head, in mid-January, as TikTok was facing its first ban in the US. It was originally supposed to launch in February, then March, but here we are in April, and today’s the day.

As initially promised, Instagram Edits is available for free on Android and iOS. It lands as a familiar timeline-based editor offering deep integration with Instagram, meaning you can view your metrics, watch other Reels, browse through all the available sounds and audio clips, and even apply popular effects.

Unlike CapCut, which is owned by TikTok's parent company, ByteDance, or other video-editing apps for mobile, Instagram is billing Edits as a one-stop shop. As you can see from the screenshots below, there's a lot of focus on creation and ideation.

Beyond importing video, making cuts, adding text, and implementing effects, you can use sticky notes of sorts to create lists of ideas or manage various projects.

As noted above, you can watch other Reels and browse for them without leaving the app. Plus, you’ll have the ability to save notes associated with them – maybe it’s one you want to remix or just an excellent custom audio you want to use in your next video.

The big appeal, though, for the Instagram faithful is a promised high-quality camera for "enhanced video recording." This way, you can capture and edit right in the app, versus shooting in another app and then moving it into Instagram. Again, as a trend for Meta, the goal is to own the whole process.

Now, whether you shoot in the app or import, there are plenty of editing tools available. Mosseri initially teased that Edits would have all the tools you’d expect, and those are here. Instagram is tossing in some more unique ones, though, including the ability to pull from popular effects like a green screen.

More advanced effects, like Cutouts, which allows you to isolate a person or object on screen with tracking, or Antimate, which likely utilizes a Meta LLM, can turn images into video for engaging moments, are also included.

Both seem pretty handy, and are located at the very bottom of the interface as a row of tools. Above it, you’ll have a classic timeline that harkens back to iMovie and looks quite reminiscent of CapCut. You’ll have your main video track with audio below it, as well as room for on-screen elements like text or overlays.

While I haven’t tried Edits yet, the core functions seem to be on a par with those of other video editors, and it should be easy enough to quickly create an edit with drag-and-drop, cuts, splits, and more. Edits also has a Captions tool, as well as options to record a voiceover and add other elements.

Instagram is also promising to listen to feedback, and already has a list of features that are set to arrive in the next few updates to Edits, including the ability to use AI to modify videos, likely with a prompt; keyframes, collaboration features, and an expansion to built-in elements like fonts, filters, and voice effects, among other things.

The platform also promises to listen to feedback on Edits and use it to inform the development roadmap. I'm curious to see how Edits stacks up, given that CapCut, which I use quite a bit, disappeared for a while TikTok was banned. You can edit up to 10 minutes of video, and Instagram promises watermark-free exports to its own platform as well as general saves to the device.

Additionally, while the AI features aren’t make or break, they could let creators spice up content, and I like the promised functionality of Cutouts. So, yes, while the design does resemble CapCut, that platform didn’t necessarily reinvent the wheel of video editing on the fly.

If anything, Instagram launching Edits as a free video editor on iOS and Android should inspire some new features for competing apps to help level the playing field. If you’re interested in trying Edits, it’s rolling out now for Android and iOS.

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• Instagram is launching Blends, a new custom Reels feed
• The idea is you add this to a DM or Group Chat and watch Reels that will appeal to the people who make up the group
• You can react and add comments that live within the DM

If you’re anything like me, you can spend maybe too much time (though I’ll never admit it) scrolling through Reels on Instagram, and clips on TikTok. But not so surprisingly, Instagram wants to keep you within the walls of its app and has a new feature that lets you make a custom Reels feed for you and your friends.

Dubbed Blend, and launching right now, you can set up this custom feed for you and a friend and be served Reels that match both of your interests. It’s an invite-only Reels feed that you can scroll within your chat window and reply to at the bottom to strike up a conversation about whatever you’d like.

And if you were guessing it lives within DMs, you’d be right, as that's where Instagram invites you to keep the conversation going. Further, if you’re concerned that the Reels will live in line next to your messages, GIFs, and potentially other shared Reels … fear not.

Blend will live via an icon at the top of the chat that looks like a merge of two basic emojis. You’ll tap on that to access your Blend, which is a Blended feed of Reels that hit your interests, and it’s also where you can invite someone to join your blend.

Another important note – you can’t force someone to join your Blend on Instagram; whoever you invite will need to accept it. Instagram also says you can set up blends for you and one other person or for a group of people.

Here’s how Blend will work

So once you’ve set up a Blend with, say, two of your besties, you’ll open that group message within Instagram and tap the new icon next to the call buttons on the top right of the chat.

Tap that, and you’ll be taken to your customized Reels feed. It should look pretty similar. You’ll see the Reel creator’s username, the audio used, a snippet of the caption, and the ability to like it, comment, and even share it.

The difference is that you’ll see a bubble that says “Suggested for [insert username here],” so Instagram will clue you in as to who it thinks will like the Reel the most. And yes, this is based on whatever Reels you’ve engaged with and what Instagram knows about you.

More specifically, Instagram says “Suggested are based on each person’s activity on Instagram, including the reels they watch and interact with. They can also be based on reels sent in the chat.”

As you scroll, if you feel compelled to, you can send a message back to your group about the Reel you’re watching or even drop a reaction like an emoji. For instance, if it’s a particularly epic one, you might use the fire emoji.

It’s pretty neat and a new way to explore Reels with friends on your own time, while still interacting with each other. Not for nothing, you won’t need to risk SharePlaying on iOS or screensharing on Android, not knowing what might appear in your regular feed.

However, since this is based on your interests, your friends might learn something – those I invite to Blend will know I like Bruce Springsteen, Disney Parks, Lego, and Star Wars.

That’s the risk of the Blend: it essentially shows your Instagram Reels interests to a friend (assuming they accepted the invite). If you’re up for the fun and the challenge, you can give Instagram’s latest feature a try as it’s rolling out now.

Just make sure that the Instagram app on your iOS or Android device is up to date.

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• Instagram has never released a native app for Apple’s iPads
• That might soon change, as a leak claims an iPad app is coming soon
• For now, you can install an Instagram web app while you wait

Instagram has long lacked a native iPad app, but that could soon change, at least according to a claim from The Information. That could be welcome news for iPad and Instagram fans who are tired of having to use a different device for their favorite social media site.

The Information’s report cites an Instagram employee who supposedly has knowledge of the plans. This worker states that Instagram developer Meta is hoping to take advantage of the turmoil facing TikTok – which could be forced to sell its American business under pressure from US president Donald Trump – to target TikTok users who might be looking for an alternative app.

While Instagram has never had a native iPad app, you’ve been able to run it on Apple’s tablets for a while. That’s because iPads are able to run apps designed for the iPhone, although in Instagram’s case the experience is not well optimized for Apple’s tablet.

Instagram recently took aim at TikTok owner ByteDance in another way, debuting a video-editing app called Edits that's designed to compete with ByteDance’s CapCut. CapCut was recently removed from Apple’s App Store due to federal restrictions on its parent company’s apps.

How to install Instagram on your iPad

While we wait for a native Instagram app on the iPad, you can actually add the social media site to your Apple tablet in the form of a web app. This works like a normal app, so it can be added to your iPad’s Dock and found in the App Switcher.

First, go to instagram.com in Safari and log in. Tap the share sheet button and select Add to Home Screen > Add. This places a web app on your iPad that launches Instagram. Tap the app icon that has appeared and log in again.

That’s all you need to do. The web app has a few restrictions compared to Instagram’s native iPhone app – you can’t post images, for example, but you can browse feeds, send direct messages, like posts and add comments.

For now, this method will have to suffice if you want an Instagram app on your iPad. But with a native app supposedly on the way, workarounds like this might not be needed for much longer.

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• Download Llama 4 Scout and Maverick from llama.com or Hugging Face today
• You can try Llama 4 right now in WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram Direct

Meta has released what it’s calling a new “herd” of Llama 4 models. There are three flavors of the new Llama 4, called Scout, Maverick and Behemoth, and two are available right now for you to try in your Meta apps like Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp.

Llama 4 is the latest flagship version of Meta’s open source Llama AI, and the new release comes almost exactly a year after the release of Llama 3 in 2024.

Inspired by the training advancements made by DeepSeek, the new Llama 4 has been trained using the more efficient ‘mixture of experts’ methodology.

As the names suggest, Scout is the most lightweight model, with 109 billion parameters, while Maverick has 400 billion parameters. Both of these models are available right now for developers to download, and are also used in the popular Meta consumer apps.

Education-heavy

Llama 4 Behemoth is a teacher-focused model, which Meta claims out performs GPT-4.5, Claude, Sonnet 3.7 and Gemini 2.0 Pro on STEM-focused benchmarks such as MATH-500 and GPQA Diamond. Currently there is no access to Llama 4 Behemoth, as Meta says it is still "in training".

Meta's new models keep it at the forefront of competitive open source LLMs. While the benchmarks are impressive, the current consumer experience of using Meta AI still lags far behind using ChatGPT or Gemini.

For example, while both the two available Llama 4 AIs are multimodal, there is still no way to upload an image via meta.ai, or in one of the many Meta apps. You can ask Meta AI to look at the URL of an image and analyze what is sees, but direct upload isn’t supported.

Equally, Meta AI lacks other chatbot extras we’ve come to think of as standard these days, like AI search and deep reasoning, and its image generation capabilities lag behind the most recent ChatGPT update.

Copyright issues remain

The new Llama 4 models are accessible to developers, who can download the open source models to use at competitive token rates at llama.com and Hugging Face.

Alternatively the new Llama 4 LLMs are available right now to use at Meta.ai or in the Meta apps like Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram Direct.

It's worth noting that the new Llama 4 LLMs remain part of an ongoing copyright dispute between Meta and several famous authors after court documents alleged that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg had approved the use of the LibGen data set, amongst other shadow libraries, in training its Llama LLM.

The Atlantic recently published a searchable database of titles contained in LibGen, enabling many authors to see if Meta could have been training its AI on their work without permission.

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• Access to social media platforms in Turkey has been restored after 42 hours of shutdown
• Proton VPN has recorded a spike of +1100% starting from March 19, 2025, the day restrictions were enforced
• Many X accounts have then been blocked upon Turkish authorities' orders

On March 21, 2025, Turkish authorities lifted the ban on social media platforms after 42 hours of being enforced. Yet, VPN usage remains high as mass demonstrations continue.

Citizens began turning to the best VPN apps to keep accessing the likes of X, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and WhatsApp from March 19, the day restrictions were enforced. Proton VPN, for example, recorded a spike in signups of +1100%.

As protests sparked by the arrest of Ekrem İmamoğlu, the Mayor of Istanbul, and his opposition counterpart, continued, many X accounts of opposition figures and independent news outlets were reportedly blocked on government orders.

Turkey VPN usage skyrocketed

"Protecting free speech and fighting censorship is a core part of our mission, and we're committed to doing what we can to help people around the world. Unfortunately, Turkey is one such country with a poor recent history of censorship," David Peterson, General Manager of Proton VPN, told TechRadar in a statement on Friday.

This isn't the first time Proton VPN has recorded similar spikes in usage in Turkey.

Only in 2024 did Proton VPN signups skyrocket by 1,400% in October and 4,500% in August amid similar blocks on social media services. Also, in 2023, citizens increasingly turned to Proton VPN. The company recorded a staggering 15,000% increase in February after Twitter was blocked following a deadly earthquake and a 2,100% spike in May as citizens prepared for potential blocks ahead of the presidential elections.

The spikes in usage have occurred despite Proton VPN being one of 27 VPN providers restricted in Turkey, alongside NordVPN, ExpressVPN, Surfshark, and others. Specifically, their official websites are blocked in the country.

"Because of this, many people – especially those who aren’t familiar with VPNs – hadn’t heard of Proton VPN," Turkish journalist Ali Safa Korkut told TechRadar, explaining that interest in the software grew following a Swiss provider's tweet shared on March 22.

"I know people around me who are using Proton VPN without any issues," he added.

While access to social media was restored around 1 am local time on Friday, internet censorship hasn't completely stopped.

X blocked multiple accounts of political figures and students involved in the protests upon the government's request, alongside those of journalists and independent news organizations like Bianet.

Korkut, who closely tracked these blocks from the beginning, has counted 309 X accounts blocked so far. "These include well-known journalists with 1.5 million followers as well as anonymous accounts with no followers at all," he said, adding, "new accounts are being blocked by the minute."

Isik Mater, Director of Research at internet watchdog NetBlocks, explains that this trend aligns with past instances where X complied with takedown requests from the Turkish government, raising concerns about platform neutrality and freedom of expression.

She told TechRadar: "Access to social media is a fundamental pillar for freedom of speech and the right to information, especially in moments of political tension or crisis. Restrictions like these not only limit public discourse but also undermine citizens’ ability to organize, communicate, and stay informed during critical events."

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• Meta has fired "roughly 20" employees for apparent leaks
• The company has seen a rise in leaks in recent months
• Company information and project plans have been leaked

Meta has announced it has fired “roughly 20” employees for leaking confidential company information.

Speaking to TheVerge, Meta spokesperson Dave Arnolds said, “We tell employees when they join the company, and we offer periodic reminders, that it is against our policies to leak internal information, no matter the intent.”

Recently, Meta’s internal meetings and product plans have seen a sharp increase in leaks, with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently stating “Everything I say, leaks” in a leaked memo.

Meta leaks

“We recently conducted an investigation that resulted in roughly 20 employees being terminated for sharing confidential information outside the company, and we expect there will be more. We take this seriously, and will continue to take action when we identify leaks,” Arnolds continued.

Meta employees have been warned not to leak company information and internal memos, with comments from Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth stating that the company was “making progress on catching people,” subsequently leaking.

Zuckerberg has aligned himself closely with President Trump, calling on him to stop the European Union from levying fines against the company, of which Meta has faced $2.67 billion in GDPR fines since 2022, and a $813.71 million fine for violating anti-trust regulations.

Meta has also cut back heavily on content moderation for Facebook, Instagram, and Threads, and has ended diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs, with Zuckerberg stating companies need “more masculine energy” on the Joe Rogan podcast. Other recent layoffs from Meta have been targeted at “low-performers.”

At an internal meeting in February 2025, Bosworth said, “There’s a funny thing that’s happening with these leaks. When things leak, I think a lot of times people think, ‘Ah, okay, this is leaked, therefore it’ll put pressure on us to change things.’ The opposite is more likely.”

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• Meta will release a new stand-alone Meta AI app in Q2 this year
• Sam Altman has responded by suggesting OpenAI could release its own social media app in retaliation
• Meta will release more AI-related products this year

According to new rumors posted by CNBC, Meta has announced that it is going to release a stand-alone app version of Meta AI to take on ChatGPT this year, prompting OpenAI CEO Sam Alman to respond with, “Ok fine maybe we'll do a social app”, on the X social platform.

The prospect of OpenAI creating a social media app in retaliation may have been a joke from Altman – his follow-up post on X said “lol if facebook tries to come at us and we just uno reverse them it would be so funny” followed by a laughing emoji, but it garnered some serious responses from users on X.

“Drop the GPT – just ‘chat’” said @not_a_vc, and “Have you thought about merging with X?” asked Bojan Tunguz. However, most users seemed to think the world didn’t need yet another social media app. “A social chatGPT app would probably start a new paradigm. No telling how the consequences would play out from that”, said RexMonte, “Social networks are now obsolete”, said Mark Lindsay, and “How many social media apps have been tried yet everyone keeps coming back to this dumpster fire?” asked another user.

Meta AI everywhere

According to CNBC, “people familiar with the matter” say the new Meta AI app is expected in the second quarter of this year.

The Meta AI chatbot launched in September 2023, and can currently be accessed from its own website, or from inside Meta apps like Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram, where you can chat with the AI as if you were talking to a friend. Separating the AI out into a stand-alone app would pitch it directly against dedicated AI chatbot apps like ChatGPT, Gemini and Grok.

In January this year, Zuckerberg responded to a post on Threads (another of Meta's social platforms) with a '100' emoji after a user suggested that Meta should have its own AI chatbot app, which could tie together MetaAI through all its different platforms, apps, and products like Ray-Ban Meta glasses.

Meta has strong AI ambitions this year. Zuckerberg has described 2025 as being the “defining year” for Meta’s smart glasses plans and a leaked internal memo allegedly penned by Meta CTO Andrew Bosworth has teased some big things in XR and AI tech from its Reality Labs division, including six new AI hardware devices.

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• Instagram is continuing to expand what's possible in the DMs
• You can now schedule a message and easily translate one
• The bigger news dropped from JENNIE and Doechii as you can share music now

Sure, Instagram DMs might be best known as where you might shoot your shot with someone or send Reels to friends with common interests, but Meta wants them to be used as a core messaging service. At least, that’s what we think this pretty major expansion to Instagram DMs, which is rolling out now, indicates.

Just days after debuting the ability to give another user a nickname timed to Valentine’s Day, Instagram is rolling out four major improvements to its DMs. Starting with the ability to schedule a message, which I was surprised wasn’t already there. Instagram is now playing catch up with the likes of iMessage – which only got this feature in iOS 18 – Messenger, and WhatsApp.

Within Instagram, though, you can now write out a message – emojis, GIFs, and all – and schedule it to be sent later for individual or group messages. You can schedule one for up to 29 days in the future, which might prove fruitful if you need to be sure an important message will be sent, like for a friend's birthday or an anniversary with a loved one.

Further, Instagram knows its platform is global and that you might be messaging someone in another language. And rather than copying that message into another app or the web for a translation, you can now translate a message into 99 different languages right within Instagram. You can do this by long holding on to the message and selecting the translate option. This one could prove pretty handy.

Next, we’ve all been there when group messages get busy – it can be a constant onslaught of new items to read, and other messages or items shared can get lost in the mix. Instagram has a fix, well, at least one that could help, as you can now pin up to three messages to the top of an individual or a group chat. So, if you’re planning a weekend trip with friends, you can get the essential details up top.

Considering Instagram already integrates music into Stories and lets you share an adorable vinyl record spinning with artwork, it was only a matter of time before this feature arrived in messages. The result is that you can share your favorite tracks with your friends in a one-person or group message and listen to the track simultaneously.

You also don’t need to navigate out to Apple Music or Spotify to find the track as you can search for your favorite songs right in-line from a new pop-up menu. It’s similar to picking a track to share on Stories or as backing music for a Reel. Instagram actually partnered with JENNIE and Doechii to unveil this feature.

All of this stacks up to make messaging in DMs a bit more seamless but also to keep you more within Instagram rather than navigating out to other apps. Additionally, Instagram also now lets you generate a QR code so another user can easily join a group chat by just scanning it.

Let us know what your favorite feature of this Instagram DM drop is in the comments below, but in the meantime, I’m going to share some new music in a DM with my friends.

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• Instagram just rolled out some Valentine's Day easter eggs
• The launch includes an iOS exclusive Story sticker
• Plus you can theme DMs to the holiday, and give someone a nickname

You could say love is in the air as Valentine’s Day is tomorrow, February 14. Similar to some special easter eggs rolled out ahead of ringing in 2025, Instagram is getting in the spirit and spreading some love.

Between special effects for sharing ‘Notes,’ custom Story stickers, and outright themes for DMs, you can get in on some Valentine’s Day action whether or not you’re in a relationship. Though similar to the great debate of blue vs green bubbles, some of these limited-time features are exclusive to this with iOS.

Kicking things off is a special treat for Instagram’s ‘Notes’ feature, which basically acts as a status for your account. It’s a place to share a thought, a call to action, or a message of love for your followers if you’re in the Valentine’s spirit. Certain words or phrases like ‘pookie,’ ‘ily,’ or simply ‘vday’ will enable a special visual effect. Think of a cupid's arrow going through your note, a change in the color of the bubble, or hearts filling up your screen.

These are pretty fun, and Instagram’s dubbed these “Secret Phrases in Notes.” If you’re a fan of DMs (direct messages) or group chats, you can set the mood with three new themes: candy hearts, love, or sweethearts. If you feel like taking a potential move to the next level, you could slide into someone’s DMs with a theme. Results may vary, though.

Beyond themes, you can give another account on Instagram a custom nickname – think ‘bestie’ – and there are few new reaction types beyond just double tapping to love a message someone sent.

Arguably, what’s more exciting is the new features for Stories. For one, there are new font types and effects themed for Valentine’s Day. The best one, though, is exclusive to iOS. A limited edition, Valentine’s Day-themed vinyl record sticker for sharing music reads “My V-Day Jams.” If you scratch it, though, hearts will appear, and that’s just simply cute.

Much like other holiday-themed additions, Instagram’s latest feature drop for Valentine’s Day is rolling out globally and will be available through February 15, 2025. However, the new tapback reactions in DMs and the ability to give someone a nickname are here to stay, at least for now.

Let us know what you think of these in the comments below.

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• Meta wants to cut 5% of its headcount
• CEO Mark Zuckerberg wants low performers out, and new talent in
• The cuts, with general attrition, will cut headcount by around 10% this year

Meta is planning to cut 5% of its workforce, according to an internal memo shared by CEO Mark Zuckerberg to employees and acquired by Bloomberg.

Figures put Meta’s current workforce at around 72,500, meaning the layoffs would affect at least 3,600 of the company's “low-performers.”

“We typically manage out people who aren’t meeting expectations over the course of a year, but now we’re going to do more extensive performance-based cuts during this cycle,” Zuckerberg said in the memo.

‘This is going to be an intense year’

“I’ve decided to raise the bar on performance management and move out low-performers faster,” Zuckerberg said, further stating the company would be backfilling the open roles through 2025.

Those to be ousted from the company in the US are expected to be notified on February 10 and will be given “generous severance”, according to Zuckerberg, with overseas workers likely to be notified at a later date. Meta has cut around 21,000 workers between 2022 and 2023, with Zuckerberg cutting 10,000 of these jobs during the company's “year of efficiency” of '23.

As for this year, Meta’s employee numbers are expected to drop 10% as a result of current job cuts and attrition. Going forward, the company is planning to focus heavily on AI, smart glasses, and its social media platforms., with Zuckerberg likely poised to fill the impending gap in the market caused by TikTok's upcoming ban in the US on January 19th.

Zuckerberg also recently announced that Meta would be ceasing its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs and that Facebook and Instagram would be switching from “politically biased” fact checking services to a community based notes system, similar to Twitter (now known as X).

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• Mark Zuckerberg has asked President-elect Trump to stop EU imposing fines
• Meta CEO compared GDPR and antitrust fines to tariffs on US companies
• Request comes after Facebook and Instagram move to replace fact checking services with community notes

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has called on President-elect Donald Trump to stop the European Union from levying fines against US companies for violating the bloc’s anti-trust, data protection, and other rules.

Speaking on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast, Zuckerberg said, “I think it's a strategic advantage for the United States that we have a lot of the strongest companies in the world, and I think it should be part of the US strategy going forward to defend that.”

Meta has faced €2.619 billion ($2.67 billion) in fines from the European Union since 2022 as a result of General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) violations alone. Meta was also hit by a €797.72 million ($813.71 million) fine late in 2024 for violating EU antitrust rules.

Zuckerberg cosying up to Trump

Zuckerberg suggested EU competition and data protection regulations were, “like a tariff” on American companies, playing into Trump’s recent threats to impose steep tariffs on imported goods from around the world.

If Trump were to heed Zuckerberg’s suggestion, which is unlikely, US companies would not have to adhere to the data and competition regulations that companies that operate in the EU must adhere to. As a result, US companies would likely face sanctions and restrictions on operating in the EU, cutting off a significant portion of the West as a potential market for US companies.

Following Trump’s successful election win, numerous companies have offered huge donations to the President-elect’s inauguration fund, likely in an effort to get into his good graces, with Meta donating $1 million.

Zuckerberg, whose initial foray into social media started with a site used to rank the physical attractiveness of female Harvard students, told Rogan he "started building social media to give people a voice", and that Facebook and Instagram would soon do away with fact checking services as they have become “too politically biased."

The recent elections also acted as a “cultural tipping point towards once again prioritizing speech,” he said in a video later shared on Facebook.

Instead, the Meta-owned social media platforms would begin transitioning towards a community notes system, similar to that used on X (formerly Twitter). Meta also announced the discontinuation of its diversity, equity and inclusion programs.

The UK’s technology secretary, Peter Kyle, has already stated the recently-introduced Online Safety Act is “not up for negotiation”.

“The threshold for these laws allows responsible free speech to a very, very high degree. But I just make this basic point: access to British society and our economy is a privilege – it’s not a right. And none of our basic protections for children and vulnerable people are up for negotiation,” Kyle said in an interview with the Observer.

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• You won't need to search for another app to make an EOY recap for Instagram
• The app is rolling out a new Collage type for Stories to create your own
• There are new secret effects for DMs and more 'Add Yours' stickers

Between Spotify Wrapped and Apple Music Replay, it’s a reminder that 2024 is coming to a close, and that might have you thinking about making end-of-year recaps for Instagram. But, rather than searching for the best collage apps to download, like Top 9 or whatever the latest craze is – maybe a new CapCut template? – Instagram’s going to do some of the heavy lifting this year.

That’s right – Instagram is rolling out a new Collage style for Stories, which will let you recap your year with the right style. It’s an “EOY-themed Collage” and will be an easy way to share your top moments with friends, family, and the rest of your followers.

Judging from the example photos shared of the new Collage, you should be able to freely place several images on one Story slide and choose from themed fronts. For instance, there’s a neon “How 2024 Started” that can be paired with “How 2024 Ended” and a smaller, just as spicy “HNY.” There is even a countdown sticker type, which looks similar to the reminder functionality currently available in Instagram Stories.

To encourage others to share their favorite moments of the year, Instagram will debut four new “Add Yours” stickers. You can also theme your DMs for New Year's Eve with lasers, but there are more festive ones, including a Mariah Carey Christmas.

You also might want to try sending “Happy New Year” or “Hello 2025” in an individual DM or a group chat, as it will cause a new special effect on-screen.

As with most Instagram updates, these are a gradual rollout – so that’s beginning today and it’s wise to make sure your app is up to date and keep checking back, as it should hit most users by the end of the week and will stick around until the beginning of January 2024.

Of course, while Instagram is hoping you won't be reaching for another app – and since I have a crowded home screen – if these end-of-year collages don't fit the bill, rest assured there will be alternatives off the app. We'll just need to wait and see.

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Instagram, Threads, Meta, and WhatsApp, virtually, all of Meta's main services suffered outage on Wednesday afternoon. While none of the platforms appeared to return 500 errors, many stopped updating and refused to accept posts.

Down Detector shows a massive increase in outage reports for all the services starting at about noon ET. Since then, they've slowly and almost completely, recovered. Other unrelated sites and services, according to Down Detector, also appeared to be struggling at the same time, including Amazon's AWS service which backs many of the popular sites and services throughout the Internet, and even Reddit.

On Threads, we couldn't upload images or refresh our feeds. On Instagram, notifications were empty.

We've contacted Meta for comment and will update this live blog with its response.

But the good news is that most of Meta's platforms now appear operational. Here's how it all went down (and came back up).

AWS have a role here

As we mentioned, AWS, at least according to Down Detector, was also struggling in the early afternoon. Since we've heard whispers of other services outside the Meta's orbit also struggling, this might be a bigger issue than one company's servers. AWS serves countless websites and online services.

How it started

We first noticed the outage on Threads where the platform began rejecting image uploads. Soon, the feeds started disappearing.

Subsequent checks of Instagram and Facebook showed similar instabilities.

In case you didn't know, Threads is owned by Instagram, which is also owned by Meta. The upstart social media platform has grown quickly over the last 16 months and has been remarkably stable. In recent months, its biggest challenge has come not from infrastructure but from Bluesky, which while slightly older than Threads recently rose to prominence during a mass exodus from X (formerly Twitter). For what it's worth, Bluesky and X appear unaffected by any larger Internet issues.

A recovery

By 3:58 PM ET, most of Meta's major services appeared to be recovering. Down Detector showed a significant downturn in outage reports

Instagram Notifications reappeared and Threads was, for the most part, accepting image uploads.

The uncertainty of it all

This is the kind of platform outage that leaves you guessing. Systems work, but inconsistently. I was posting – I thought – but was pretty sure no one was seeing it. I finally posted a poll on Threads to see if the system was still out or if social engagement would continue.

With exactly two votes (at this writing) it's clear that not everything is working as it should.

Post by @lanceulanoff

View on Threads

A rough ride

WhatsApp may have had the roughest ride with two massive outage report spikes, as per Down Detector. It being a private messaging app, it's hard to know what people were experiencing or what they were saying (and not able to say) about the outage.

Based on the current chart WhatsApp also appears to be recovering.

The dust settles

One of the more interesting aspects of an outage like this, especially when it touches multiple services is how it can have a knock-on effect for seemingly unrelated platforms. When people can't get onto their favorite social media and encrypted communication platforms, they sometimes look for other places to blame.

Services like T-Mobile, AT&T, and Spectrum also got their share of outage reports in the same timeframe but it's unlikely they were either responsible or even impacted. It's just that when you can't reach Facebook, you start to wonder if your cellular or internet service is down. It's usually not.

Mopping up

Meta did eventually hop onto X (formerly Twitter) to first acknowledge the issues and then let everyone know they're working on it. At around 6PM, Meta returned to X to tell everyone, "We’re 99% of the way there."

No details about what happened, like which technical issues brought down the majority of Meta's apps, but it's good to see they've solved the majority of whatever caused today's outage.