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Oh, brother (literally), we've got both Afflecks shilling for AI this week. The topic is extremely controversial—in general, but particularly among artists, who are concerned that artificial intelligence will push out true human creativity for soulless slop. But in the eyes of Casey and Ben Affleck, these tools will...

Bluesky is gaining momentum quickly.

The micro-blogging social media platform, considered by some to be an alternative to the Elon Musk-led X (formerly Twitter) and the Meta-owned Threads, gained 1.25 million additional new users in the past week following the U.S. presidential election, via CNBC.

The bulk of the new users are coming from the U.S., Canada and the United Kingdom, the company confirmed on Wednesday (November 13).

“We’re excited to welcome everyone looking for a better social media experience,” Bluesky CEO Jay Graber told CNBC in a statement.

Keep reading to find out more…

Bluesky is currently No. 1 in Social Networking on Apple’s App Store.

A description, via the App Store: “Bluesky is The New Social Network for people who stay online and up-to-date. News, jokes, gaming, art, hobbies, and whatever you’re into is happening here. Short text posts make for a quick read during coffee,...

The reelection of Donald Trump as president last week brought a wave of jubilation to X (formerly Twitter). The influencers and megadonors who supported the Republican nominee delighted in the defeat of his opponent, Vice President Kamala Harris, while giddily speculating about the extremist agenda he would pursue once in office. The site’s owner, billionaire Trump ally Elon Musk, who had drastically overhauled the platform to amplify far-right misinformation and hate speech, was particularly pleased. He announced in a post on Monday that the Super Pac through which he...

GTA 6's trailer reveal already broke records, and anticipates continued success for the highly anticipated title. Rockstar's focus on GTA 6 could be the reason behind other titles like San Andreas VR being delayed indefinitely or canceled. Rockstar has prioritized GTA 6 development in recent months, calling all staff back to the office for the "final stretch."

Grand Theft Auto 6 is one of the most highly anticipated titles in the gaming space at the moment, coming over a decade since the last entry in the series first launched to then-record-breaking sales. With how GTA 6's trailer reveal has already broken records, it's incredibly likely that the upcoming title will go on to do the same, which is why Rockstar's focused its attention on it right now. Unfortunately for some, this may have come at the cost of another Rockstar title.

Rockstar's portfolio has always seemed to consist of high-quality games, and...

Meta has acquired Impulse: Playing With Reality, an interactive mixed-reality documentary exploring Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (Adhd) voiced by Tilda Swinton. The project, from co-directors May Abdalla and Barry Gene Murphy, will premiere at the 2024 Venice Immersive program of the 81st Venice International Film Festival.

The project draws from more than 100 hours of interviews with individuals on the severe end of the Adhd spectrum, using the mixed reality format to give viewers a sense of what it feels like to live with the condition.

Impulse is the second installment in the “Playing With Reality” series from U.K. producer Anagram, co-produced by Floréal & France Télévisions, which aims to shed light on mental health conditions through immersive storytelling.

Swinton also narrated the first project in the series, Abdalla and Murphy’s 2021 VR work Goliath, an exploration of one man’s experience of schizophrenia, which went on to win the Grand Jury...

Santiago Loza, Natalia Meta and Martín Boulocq are among the filmmakers returning to San Sebastian with projects in this year’s Europe-Latin America co-production forum (September 23-25), alongside the latest project from the directors of Sundance prize winner Sujo.

This will be Argentinian director Loza’s eighth participation in the Spanish festival, previously taking part in the forum in 2017 with Brief Story Of The Green Planet. His latest project is Animales Del Desierto.

Argentina’s Meta is taking part with The Spirit Of Law, after The Intruder played in Horizontes Latinos in 2020.

Bolivia’s Boulocq returns with The Strange Woman,...

Adam MacDonald (Backcountry, Pyewacket) returns this summer with Out Come the Wolves, a survival thriller that’s been dated for theatrical and VOD release on August 30.

Bloody Disgusting has been exclusively provided with the official trailer this afternoon, which previews what Eli Roth calls “a tense survival thriller that grips you by the jaws.”

Watch the trailer for Out Come the Wolves below.

The film follows a woman (Missy Peregrym) who brings her fiancé (Damon Runyan) to her secluded cabin deep in the wilderness to meet her male best friend (Joris Jarsky). While there, tensions between the two men rise, prior to them setting off on a deer hunt that descends into the darkest side of nature, leaving a truly terrifying trail of horror.

The screenplay was written by Enuka Okuma with the story by Joris Jarsky, Adam MacDonald and Enuka Okuma.

Adam MacDonald is a writer/director, born in Montreal,...

Jesse Uram has joined Ventureland, the creative studio behind “Bobi Wine: The People’s President” and “Beckham,” as vice president of strategic partnerships. He will be based in the company’s Los Angeles office, where he will work closely with CEO Kerstin Emhoff and managing director John Battsek on expanding the company’s relationships with partners across the financial, creative and distribution communities.

“Jesse has a wealth of knowledge, experience, and a strong reputation in this industry,” Emhoff said in a statement. “As Ventureland continues to grow exponentially, our ability to bring in the best partners and develop strong relationships across all entertainment platforms will support that growth. We are excited to have Jesse join this award-winning team!”

Battsek added: “We’re delighted to welcome Jesse to Ventureland. His experience in brand strategy is invaluable and I look forward to working with him on our growing documentary slate.”

Uram comes to...

Is there anything Maya Rudolph can’t do? It’s a serious question, as the comedy superstar reigns as this year’s Emmy nominations Mvp. Rudolph earned four nominations — a stunning achievement in itself, but made even more impressive because those nods come from three different programs. She’s nominated in comedy lead actress for Apple TV+’s “Loot” (just renewed for a third season), in character voice-over for her role as Connie the Hormone Monstress in Netflix’s animated “Big Mouth,” and in comedy guest actress for her hosting stint on NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” (which also got her an original music and lyrics nod for her monologue tune).

It’s quite a year for Emmy overachievers. Several acting stars also landed writing noms, like Quinta Brunson (“Abbott Elementary”), Richard Gadd (“Baby Reindeer”) and Donald Glover (“Mr. & Mrs. Smith”). Others nominated thesps are also producers on their nominated best series.

Nearly four years after Meta suspended Donald Trump from their services — and 18 months after the ban was lifted with “guardrails” in place — the parent company of Facebook and Instagram announced Friday that it has lifted all remaining restrictions from the former president’s accounts ahead of the Republican National Convention.

“With the party conventions taking place shortly, including the Republican convention next week, the candidates for President of the United States will soon be formally nominated. In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people...

Meta has removed any remaining restrictions around Donald Trump’s Facebook and Instagram accounts ahead of the Republican convention next week.

In an update to his January 2023 blog post in which Facebook ended the former president’s two-year suspension in the wake of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot, Meta’s global affairs president Nick Clegg stated Friday that with the Republican and Democratic national conventions coming up — the RNC kicks off on Monday while the DNC begins on Aug. 19 — both parties’ presidential candidates will be formally nominated.

“In assessing our responsibility to allow political expression, we believe that the American people should be able to hear from the nominees for president on the same basis,” Clegg wrote. “As a result, former President Trump, as the nominee of the Republican Party, will no longer be subject to the heightened suspension penalties.”

Clegg went on to assess the penalties themselves.

“In reaching this conclusion,...

Sheryl Sandberg, Mark Zuckerberg’s longtime number two who stepped down as COO in 2022, said today she’s also leaving the board of Meta.

Sandberg was one of the highest-ranking women in the business and tech world as chief operating officer of Facebook, then Meta, which she joined in 2008. While there, she authored the 2013 bestselling Lean In: Women, Work, and the Will to Lead.

“With a heart filled with gratitude and a mind filled with memories, I let the Met board know that I will not stand for reelection this May,” she wrote n a Facebook post. “After I left my role as COO, I remained on the board to help ensure a successful transition.”

“I will always be grateful to Mark for believing in me and for his partnership and friendship; he is that truly once-in-a-generation visionary leader and he is equally amazing as a friend who stays by...

On social media, attacks on LGBTQ people aren’t always as direct as calling someone a name or threatening to hurt them — obscuring attacks in coded language, jokes, and dog whistles is a common method people use to try to get around the rules. “There are a lot of coded references, such as the number 41 percent — oftentimes used as saying a trans person should ‘go 41-percent themselves’ — a reference to the number of trans people that attempt suicide,” says Alejandra Caraballo, a clinical instructor at Harvard Law School and LGBTQ rights advocate.

Happy New Year, everybody. Jesse Whittock with you for the first Insider of 2024, as we look forward to bringing you the biggest stories throughout the year. Read on, and please and sign up here to get the newsletter delivered to your inbox every week.

10 Stories To Track In 2024

What to follow: This year is set to be a crucial one for the future of the global entertainment business, with the resolution of several key talking points set to color the agenda years into the future. Our team pulled together to discuss the big trends and narratives, and then published our ‘Ten Storylines Set To Dominate The International Market In 2024’ feature as the clocks struck twelve and the New Year began. Our predictions include: Continuing market contraction around the world, union talks and possible labor action outside the U.S., big-scale M&a of some nature, debate around AI and ongoing...

Froy Gutierrez and Zane Phillips are going strong as a couple!

The 25-year-old Cruel Summer actor and the 29-year-old Glamorous actor were in attendance at the “Evan’s Chaos Dinner” at the home of Crystal Kung Minkoff on Wednesday (November 15) in Los Angeles.

The intimate Friendsgiving dinner was hosted by Threads by Instagram and writer Evan Ross Katz.

Guests also included Sarah Michelle Gellar, Zooey Deschanel, Zachary Quinto, How to Get Away with Murder‘s Jack Falahee, Meta exec Michael Hoffman, and some of your favorite Drag Race stars like Trixie Mattel, Gottmik, and Symone.

Froy and Zane went public with their relationship when they kissed at a New York City pride party in June 2023 and they went Instagram official back in August with some hot shirtless pics.

Browse through the gallery for 25+ photos from the event…...

The war in Gaza has dominated social media since Hamas attacked Israel last Saturday. There’s been plenty of credible reporting and horrific imagery shared by those on the ground, but the influx of posts has also included one of the most staggering floods of unchecked misinformation in recent memory.

X, formerly known as Twitter, has been particularly vulnerable. The platform’s dismantling of content moderation teams, shift to a pay-for-verification model, and the launch of engagement-based revenue sharing have opened the floodgates for users looking to cash in off sensational content.

Charli D’Amelio is one of several stars to have sold their likeness to Meta to be turned into an AI character, and her new character Coco has excellent taste in makeup.

On Wednesday (October 11), characters bearing the likeness of the 19-year-old TikTok star and other celebrities including Kendall Jenner, Pairs Hilton, Tom Brady and Dwyane Wade started popping up with verified Instagram accounts.

Each character is a clone of one of the stars, but they have different names and personalities.

For instance, Charli‘s is named Coco, and she’s a ballerina. Since going live on the app, Coco has shared multiple AI-generated posts. That includes a Get Ready With Me-style video, where she highlighted a very real (and popular) indie makeup brand and their cult classic eyeshadow palette.

Head inside to check out the video…

In the clip, Charli shows off the products that she used to achieve a dreamy periwinkle glam.

Image Source: Getty / Gotham

As Selena Gomez once said, everything is not what it seems. On Oct. 5, Meta unveiled Billie, an AI chatbot created using Kendall Jenner's likeness. Outwardly, the bot resembles the model to a T, down to her mannerisms, tone of voice, and blinking patterns. "Chatting with me is like having an older sister you can talk to, but who can't steal your clothes," Billie captioned its debut Instagram post. The chatbot is the first in a line of 28 new AI assistants modeled after celebrities, and as one Instagram commenter succinctly put it, "that's freaky as hell."

To be fair, artificial intelligence has proven useful in gathering information and analyzing data at a faster pace in myriad industries around the world, including healthcare, cybersecurity, financial services, insurance, the beauty industry, and business enterprises. Still, this most recent development could give "Black Mirror," "Severance," and even "The Matrix" a run for their money.

European Commissioner Thierry Breton has written to Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg following a surge in disinformation on the social networks in the wake of the Israel-Hamas conflict asking him to be extra vigilant about content moderation.

The letter comes less than 24 hours after Breton wrote a similar public letter to X owner Elon Musk asking him to remove disinformation related to the conflict from his platform, formerly known as Twitter.

“In light of a number of serious developments, let me recall the precise obligations regarding content moderation under the EU Digital Services Act,” Breton wrote in his letter addressed to Zuckerberg which was then posted on the social networks on Wednesday.

“Firstly, following the terrorist attacks carried out by Hamas against Israel we are seeing a surge of illegal content and disinformation being disseminated in the E.U. via certain platforms,” it continued. “I would ask you to be very...

New Delhi, Sep 4 (Ians) Union Minister of State for Electronics and It, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, said here on Monday that the journey in the last nine years has been not only to make up for the lost ground before 2014 but also to prepare the young generation in this rapidly transforming India to be equipped with right set of skills and play a key role in the evolving landscape of technology and the global economy.

Speaking at an event here where social media giant Meta announced a three-year partnership with Ministry of Education and Ministry of Skill Development and Entrepreneurship to empower students, educators and entrepreneurs, the minister said that digital skills “more importantly represents a bridge between lakhs of small rural, micro and self-employed entrepreneurs, enabling them to expand, grow and succeed.”

“We are certainly living in a time of potential promise for all those who are involved in shaping the...

New Delhi, Sep 4 (Ians) Meta said that it took down over 15.8 million pieces of content across 13 policies for Facebook and over 5.9 million pieces of content across 12 policies for Instagram in India in July.

Between July 1-31, Facebook received 3,200 reports through the Indian grievance mechanism, and said that it provided tools for users to resolve their issues in 5,392 cases.

These include pre-established channels to report content for specific violations, self-remediation flows where they can download their data, avenues to address account hacked issues etc, Meta said in its monthly report in compliance with the It (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021.

“Of the other 25,306 reports where specialised review was needed, we reviewed content as per our policies, and we took action on 5,392 reports in total. The remaining 19,914 reports were reviewed but may not have been actioned,” Meta added.

On Instagram, the company received 20,146 reports through the Indian grievance mechanism.

San Francisco, Sep 3 (Ians) Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a multi-account feature with a new interface for the app settings to beta testers on Android.

With this multi-account feature, users will be able to add an additional account on the same device directly right within WhatsApp Settings, according to WABetaInfo.

The second feature is a redesigned settings interface, which will give users a more modern experience when navigating through the app’s various options.

The report also noted that the update also includes a redesigned profile tab right within the chat list, making it easier for users to open the settings of the app.

Moreover, this new feature will also allow users to manage their conversations from multiple accounts with a single app.

In addition, it will keep conversations and notifications separate and enable users to switch between accounts on the same device without the need for different devices or parallel apps.

San Francisco, Aug 31 (Ians) Meta-owned Instagram is reportedly working on a longer version of Reels, which will let users record up to 10 minutes of videos.

Mobile developer and leaker Alessandro Paluzzi shared the development on X (formerly Twitter) on Wednesday, sharing screenshots of two side-by-side Reels pages, one to record for three minutes and another to record for 10 minutes, reports The Verge.

“#Instagram is working on the ability to create #Reels up to 10 minutes long,” he said.

However, Meta has not confirmed plans to extend Reels yet, the report said.

By increasing Reels’ length to 10 minutes, it moves closer to YouTube videos, but not as far as short-term video rival TikTok, which already offers more time to record videos.

TikTok offers up to 10 minutes of longer video content for free users with an additional paid tier for up to 20 minutes, allowing fans to watch more content from their favourite creators.

New Delhi, Aug 30 (Ians) Meta-owned Instagram is testing a new feature that will allow creators to share notable fan comments to their Stories, such as comments on their posts or Reels.

Instagram head Adam Mosseri stated in a post on the ‘Ig updates’ channel that the company wants to make it easier for creators to highlight interesting comments.

“We’re testing the ability for public accounts to share comments from any public feed post or Reels to their stories. The idea is to help creators highlight important or interesting comments from fellow creators or fans,” he said.

Creators who participate in this test can highlight a comment by swiping it and tapping the “Add to story icon”. In the Stories feed, the comment will appear alongside the original post.

However, Mosseri did not provide any information about the feature’s public rollout or the size of the test.

Meanwhile, Instagram...

New Delhi, Aug 30 (Ians) Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg has launched a new WhatsApp application for Mac users with a group calling feature which will connect with up to eight people on video calls and 32 people on audio calls.

The company had introduced the similar experience for Windows desktop users earlier this year.

“With the new WhatsApp app for Mac, users can now make group calls from Mac for the first time, connecting with up to 8 people on video calls and up to 32 people on audio calls. They can join a group call after it’s started, see call history and choose to receive incoming call notifications even when the app is closed,” WhatsApp said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

According to the company, the app is redesigned to be familiar to Mac users, helping users to get more done faster when using WhatsApp on a large screen.

They...

Josh Seiter, a former contestant on ABC’s The Bachelorette, says a recent message on his Instagram page that announced his death was the result of his account getting hacked.

In a video shared to his account Tuesday, Seiter said that he is alive and well and that a note posted a day prior that appeared to announce his death was the result of “a cruel joke” aimed to mock his previous posts about mental health issues. Seiter was a contestant on season 11 of the dating series that starred Kaitlyn Bristowe and was eliminated during the first week of episodes that aired in May 2015.

“As you can see, I am alive and well,” Seiter said in the new video. “My account was hacked; for the last 24 hours I have been trying desperately to get into it. Somebody was playing a cruel joke and mocking my mental illness and the struggles...

China is behind the largest known covert propaganda operation ever identified on Facebook and Instagram, according to a new report by security researchers at Meta.

Meta on Tuesday outed the authors of a four-year long influence campaign dubbed “Spamouflage Dragon,” which first appeared in 2019 to spread propaganda about Hong Kong’s pro-democracy protests. Since then, the campaign has focused on spreading disinformation about the origins of the Covid-19 pandemic, attacking dissidents and critics abroad, criticizing the United States, and attempting to sow division during the 2022 midterm elections.

For years, researchers...

San Francisco, May 26 (Ians) Meta-owned WhatsApp is reportedly working on a new feature called — “WhatsApp usernames”, which will let users to choose unique usernames for their accounts.

With this feature, users will be able to opt for a unique and memorable username, instead of depending solely on phone numbers to identify contacts, according to WABetaInfo.

The company may also provide users with the ability to contact others by entering a username within the app without knowing their phone numbers.

Moreover, the report said that the company is working on introducing the feature within the app settings, particularly, a section dedicated to this feature will be available within WhatsApp Settings > Profile.

With the ability to choose a username, WhatsApp users will be able to add an additional layer of privacy to their accounts, the report added.

Currently, the WhatsApp username feature is under development and it will be released to...

New Delhi, May 25 (Ians) After facing an outcry from the Indian startup ecosystem for promoting views that are “anti-Indian and pro-foreign Big Tech”, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (Iamai) on Thursday announced a new leadership that has founders and CEOs from homegrown startups and unicorns.

Harsh Jain, Co-founder, and CEO of Dream Sports has been elected the Chairman of the association.

He replaces Sanjay Gupta, Vice President and Country Manager, Google India.

Rajesh Magow, Co-Founder and Group CEO, MakeMyTrip, and Satyan Ganjwani, Vice Chairman, Times Internet, have been elected as Vice Chairman and the Treasurer, respectively.

Magow replaces Shivnath Thukral, Director and Head of India Public Policy, Meta and Ganjwani replaces Harshil Mathur, CEO and Co-Founder at Razorpay.

The new team members will form the association’s executive council along with the ex-officio member Dr Subho Ray, President, Iamai.

The new 24-member Governing Council and the new Executive...

San Francisco, May 24 (Ians) Meta on Wednesday conducted a fresh round of layoffs that was set to impact about 6,000 employees globally.

These job cuts were part of the company’s so-called “Year of Efficiency,” in which Meta is being restructured to cut costs, reports TechCrunch.

The third round of layoffs affected Meta’s business departments.

Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in March that the company will cut 10,000 jobs across two rounds of layoffs in late April and late May.

In a Facebook post, Zuckerberg said overall, “we expect to reduce our team size by around 10,000 people and to close around 5,000 additional open roles that we haven’t yet hired” in the company’s “year of efficiency”.

Meta already eliminated 11,000 roles in November last year. In total, about 21,000 people have lost their jobs at the social network across departments.

The tech giant cut around 4,000 of the planned 10,000 positions last month,...

New Delhi, May 22 (Ians) Meta founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Monday announced that billions of WhatsApp users can now modify a message within 15 minutes of sending it.

This feature has started rolling out to users globally and will be available to everyone in the coming weeks. All that the users need to do is long-press on a sent message and choose ‘Edit’ from the menu for up to 15 minutes after.

“For the moments when you make a mistake, or simply change your mind, you can now edit your sent messages,” said the instant messaging platform.

This will help people correct a simple misspelling to add extra context to a message.

Edited messages will display ‘edited’ alongside them, so those you’re messaging are aware of the correction without showing edit history, said WhatsApp.

“As with all personal messages, media and calls, your messages and the edits you make are protected by end-to-end encryption,...

New Delhi, April 10 (Ians) Companies like Meta (formerly Facebook) should align with the central government’s vision to keep people, especially women and youth, safe online across cities and towns in India, Union Minister for Women and Child Development Smriti Irani said on Monday.

Addressing the ‘Digital Suraksha Summit’ organised by Meta, the Minister also urged Meta to come forward and partner with the government agencies directly and responsibly on issues of women and child safety and mental health.

“They should expand this important discussion to smaller cities of India — ensuring women and youth from every corner of the country feel safe to express themselves online and reap the benefits of the digital revolution that is sweeping the country today,” Irani noted.

The ‘Digital Suraksha Summit’ brought together key policymakers, CSOs, parenting communities, creators and educators to talk about online safety.

The social media giant said it is launching ‘Take...

During Rabbit Hole Season 1 Episode 3, you got a much better feel for two of the show's stars, Charles Dance and Meta Golding.

Dance stars as Ben, John Weir's father who set up a faux suicide so horrific that it altered the course of his son's life.

Golding stars as Hailey, a woman John had a dalliance with that turned out to be a setup of unknown origin, leaving John questioning her motives and kidnapping her to keep her from revealing something that could affect his status as a suspected murderer.

Both stars have excellent comedic timing and have been imperative in some of Rabbit Hole's most exciting scenes. They play off of each other and Kiefer Sutherland beautifully.

In our last interview from the Rabbit Hole Press Day, they share their thoughts on their characters and filming scenes that aren't always what they seem on the surface.

Charles,...

San Francisco, April 4 (Ians) Meta (formerly Facebook) is no longer listing new remote positions, as managers have reportedly been forbidden from posting new listings with a remote-work option.

According to SFGate, a Meta spokesperson said, “the delisting of remote positions is temporary.”

“We remain committed to remote work. We’ve merely temporarily paused new remote work applications as leaders complete the restructuring work that Mark (Zuckerberg) announced last month,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying in the report.

The company’s remote-friendly key description — “Remote roles are now available in the US, Canada, and Europe, and we’ll continue to add more roles in more locations as they become available” — has also been removed from its website.

In the March notice to employees, Zuckerberg had said that engineers who joined in-person or fully work in person generally “performed better on average than people who joined remotely.”

He, however, added that...

Earlier this month, Mark Zuckerberg announced a new feature called Meta Verified, a subscription product that offers perks like higher visibility, deeper security, and priority access to its customer support for $12 per month, per platform. More importantly, it includes the hottest new social media perk — a verified badge. Rings a bell? Well, that’s because the Lord of Twitter, Elon Musk, sent the entire internet into a meltdown with the announcement of Twitter Blue a few months ago, a service that hawks the coveted Blue Badge of influence for $8 per month.

Now, the world of social media is no stranger to premium products. Snap already offers something called Snapchat+ that sells access to a bunch of exclusive and experimental features. Discord also has its own premium tier. But so far, none of the social and communication behemoths have tried to sell legitimacy and influence disguised in the form of a...

San Francisco, March 3 (Ians) US Senators have urged Meta Founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg to stop plans to open its metaverse platforms to teenagers.

Meta may open access to its social virtual reality (VR) platform Horizon Worlds for users aged 13 to 17 this month as it struggles to grow its VR business.

According to TechCrunch, Senators Richard Blumenthal (D-ct) and Ed Markey (D-ma) wrote a letter to Zuckerberg urging him to halt Meta’s plans to open Horizon Worlds to teens.

“Any strategy to invite young users into a digital space rife with potential harms should not be driven by a goal to maximise profit,” the senators wrote.

“We call on you to immediately halt Meta’s plan to bring teen users onto Horizon Worlds,” they added.

Meta (formerly Facebook) lost a whopping $13.7 billion in operating losses for Reality Labs for 2022, giving its Ar-vr and Metaverse dream a huge jolt.

Within the Reality Labs segment,...

New Delhi, Feb 28 (Ians) Meta has announced a new platform designed to proactively prevent young people and minors’ intimate images from spreading online.

The social network said it financially supported the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (Ncmec) in the development of ‘Take It Down’, a platform that helps adults stop the spread of their intimate images online.

“We’ve also introduced some new features that make it more difficult for suspicious adults to interact with teens on Instagram,” said Antigone Davis, Global Head of Safety at Meta.

‘Take It Down’ lets young people take back control of their intimate images.

People can go to TakeItDown.Ncmec.org and follow the instructions to submit a case that will proactively search for their intimate images on participating apps.

The platform them assigns a unique hash value a” a numerical code a” to their image or video privately and directly from their own device.

In the months ahead of what’s likely to be a brutal Republican presidential primary, Donald Trump and his 2024 campaign are laying the groundwork for his big, bombastic return to major social media platforms. Such a return, though, would inevitably involve Trump screwing over one of his own companies — and he’s been telling confidants that he is prepared to do just that.

When Trump first founded Trump Media & Technology Group (Tmtg), he agreed to a “social media exclusivity term” that required him to “first channel any and all social...

San Francisco, Jan 20 (Ians) Meta has introduced a new ‘Quiet mode’ on Instagram, which will allow users to pause notifications whenever they want to take a break from the social networking platform.

Once the new mode is enabled, users will not receive any notifications and their profile’s activity status will change to let people know, the company said in a blogpost on Thursday.

Moreover, the platform will automatically send an auto-reply when someone sends users a direct message (Dm).

Users can easily customise their Quiet mode hours to fit their schedule and once the feature is turned off, the platform will show them a quick summary of notifications so they can catch up on what they missed.

“Anyone can use Quiet mode, but we’ll prompt teens to do so when they spend a specific amount of time on Instagram late at night,” the company said.

The new mode...

San Francisco, Jan 20 (Ians) Meta has announced that it is rolling out a new Accounts Center that will allow users to manage their preferences across all their Meta accounts, like Instagram, Facebook and Messenger, from a centralised hub.

This will be helpful for users who use more than one of the company’s applications, Meta said in a blogpost on Thursday.

“Things like Personal details, Passwords and security, and Ad preferences will now live in a centralised place, so it’ll be easier for people who use multiple apps to manage their settings.”

For instance, users can now easily make their ad topic preferences consistent for Facebook and Instagram accounts by adding those accounts to the same Accounts Center.

However, users who want to keep their accounts in separate Accounts Centers, can do so, as adding more than one account to the same Accounts Center is optional.

Moreover, the company...

San Francisco, Jan 19 (Ians) Former US President Donald Trump is reportedly looking to regain control of his powerful social media accounts in order to make a comeback for the White House.

Trump’s campaign is formally petitioning Facebook’s parent company Meta to unblock his account, which was locked two years ago in response to the January 6, 2021 Capitol riot, reports NBC News.

According to a copy reviewed by NBC News, Trump’s campaign wrote in its letter to Meta, “We believe that the ban on President Trump’s account on Facebook has dramatically distorted and inhibited the public discourse.”

The campaign however, did not threaten a lawsuit.

Instead, it emphasised the importance of free speech and petitioned Meta for a “meeting to discuss President Trump’s prompt reinstatement to the platform”.

However, a Meta spokesperson said the company “will announce a decision in the coming weeks in accordance with the...

Last Halloween, Eli Roth and Crypt TV brought us a VR treat called Eli Roth’s Haunted House: Trick-vr-Treat. Now they’re set to release a 30 minute VR slasher for Valentine’s Day, and the project is called Eli Roth’s Be Mine: A VR Valentine’s Slasher. Directed by Backcountry and Pyewacket director Adam MacDonald and starring Peyton List of Cobra Kai and The Friendship Game, Be Mine will premiere in Meta Horizon Worlds at 10pm Est on February 10th.

Meta Horizon Worlds is “currently available to people 18+ in the US, Canada, the UK, Iceland, Ireland, France, and Spain on Meta Quest 2 and Meta Quest Pro.” Oculus.com notes that VR horror fans can experience the premiere event in Worlds’ creepy cabin, which is designed for immersive viewing, on February 10 at 7:00 pm Pt. Be Mine will also be available for on-demand viewing in VR on Meta Quest TV.

The finale of Doctor Who season 4 saw Rose Tyler return to the parallel universe from "Rise of the Cybermen," only this time, she was accompanied by the Meta-Crisis Doctor. This version of the show's iconic protagonist was created after Donna Noble came into contact with his latent radioactive energy, creating a separate version of the Doctor and instilling much of his existing knowledge and intelligence into her human brain. The human/Time Lord combination was too dangerous for either party, which forced the Doctor to erase Donna's memory and leave his Meta-Crisis clone in a parallel universe to grow old with Rose Tyler.

Though Donna Noble will return in the 60th Anniversary specials, the conclusion for Rose's character seems to be much more finite. She was never seen again in the show, but there's plenty of tie-in material that explains exactly what happened to Rose and the Meta-Crisis Doctor...

New Delhi, Jan 18 (Ians) Meta’s Oversight Board has overturned the social networking giant’s original decisions to remove two Instagram posts depicting “transgender and non-binary people with bare chests”.

The Board recommended that Meta change its “Adult Nudity and Sexual Activity Community Standard” so that it is governed by clear criteria that respect international human rights standards.

The case represents a failure of a “convoluted and impractical nudity policy”, the Board said, and recommended that Meta take a serious look at revising it.

Two separate pieces of content were posted by the same Instagram account, one in 2021, the other in 2022.

The account is maintained by a US-based couple who identify as transgender and non-binary.

Following a series of alerts by Meta’s automated systems and reports from users, the posts were reviewed multiple times for potential violations of various community standards.

“Meta ultimately removed both posts for violating the Sexual Solicitation Community Standard,...

San Francisco, Jan 15 (Ians) As office rentals drop significantly in the city of San Francisco amid remote work and massive layoffs, Meta (formerly Facebook) and Microsoft are now vacating office buildings in Seattle and Bellevue in Washington State.

The Seattle Times reported that Meta is reviewing “leases for Seattle-area office buildings.”

Facebook has confirmed plans to sublease its offices in downtown Seattle and in the Spring District in Bellevue.

Microsoft also confirmed that it won’t renew its lease at the 26-story City Center Plaza in Bellevue when that lease ends in June 2024, the report mentioned.

The ongoing work-from-home and layoffs have cut into demand for office space in Seattle and other tech cities in the US.

In November, Meta announced layoffs of 726 Seattle-area workers.

A Meta spokesperson said that given the economic climate, it is trying to be financially prudent.”

The Seattle office market is now struggling “where total...

San Francisco, Jan 11 (Ians) Meta has announced that it is bringing further updates to its ad system, including removing gender as an option for advertisers to reach users under 18 on Facebook and Instagram.

Starting in February, advertisers will only be able to use age and location to reach teens, the company said in a blogpost on Tuesday.

Age and location will be the only information about a teen that the company will use to show them advertisements, which will make sure that teens see ads that are meant for their age and products and services available where they live.

Moreover, starting in March, users under 18 will have more ways to manage the types of advertisements they see on Facebook and Instagram with Ad Topic Controls.

Teens can also choose to hide any or all advertisements from a specific advertiser.

“The topics we already restrict in our policies will be defaulted to See Less,...

San Francisco, Jan 10 (Ians) Meta is planning to stop supporting the original Quest VR headset with new software updates, and users using this older hardware will soon lose access to some social features.

Several users on Reddit and Twitter have posted screenshots of an email which mentioned that the company will stop providing new features to the Quest 1 and some features will be removed, reports The Verge.

However, the headset will be getting “critical bug fixes and security patches until 2024”.

The email also mentioned that the original Quests will keep working, but users will not be able to “create or join a party” and users “who currently have access to Meta Horizon Home social features will lose access to these features on March 5”.

Meanwhile, Meta said that it is adding some new moderation features to Horizon Worlds, the company’s virtual realityA(VR) social platform, as part of version 91.

For instance,...

While Instagram is showcasing Group Profiles before its official launch, individuals may wonder how this new feature will affect their user experience. Instagram is testing many new features that Meta plans to release in the coming weeks or months. Users anticipate functions like ‘Candid Stories’ or ‘Roll Call,’ but this under-discussed feature brings a Facebook favorite to the platform.

Adapted from Facebook Groups, Instagram’s Group Profiles allow users to create and join a dedicated, shared profile with friends to exchange posts. Instagram will only share content submitted to a Group Profile with members of that group rather than the user's followers. Instead of a personal profile, the content will appear on the Group Profile. By adding this new feature, people will have more ways to collaborate with friends and interact with each other.

Related: Meta Wants To Protect Teens With Its New Privacy Updates

Creating Your Own Group Profile...

San Francisco, Dec 17 (Ians) Meta has announced that it will shut down its cameo-like app, Super, on February 15, 2023.

Super is a live-streaming platform for influencers developed by Meta in 2020.

The company said that it had hoped to create a virtual meet-and-greet experience that was similar to what users experience at a real-life event like VidCon or Comic-Con, reports TechCrunch.

“What we found we’d created, however, was a much greater opportunity for creators and fans to connect in fun and exciting ways,” the company was quoted as saying.

“We saw creators and fans raise funds for good causes, launch a new set of books, test drive new jokes for standup routines, and even play trivia against one another. It was amazing to see the joy and creativity in each new Super event. Sadly, however, the time has come for us to say goodbye,” it added.

Although, Super will not be officially shut down until February,...

Meta‘s attempt to build something Super is coming to an end. The tech giant has announced the impending shutdown of a platform that attempted to provide virtual meet-and-greet space for creators.

Though Super only existed for about two years, it had several different identities during its short time on the internet. When Meta tested the platform in 2020, Super was characterized as a potential answer to Cameo, which has worked with celebrities to fulfill millions of shout-out requests. Meta’s answer to that service looked to adjust the formula by having fans pay for face time with their favorite influencers. Cameo launched its own video chat option earlier this year.

In its later iterations, Super looked more like Twitch and other hubs based around their native communities. Meta reportedly paid creators up to 3,000 to try out that version of Super, and it also said that the platform could eventually offer...