As ByteDance approaches the latest U.S. deadline to sell TikTok or face being banned here, it continues to add new features, with barely a ripple of news concerning a sale. The legislation that contained the sales clause became law in April 2024. The most recent of several extensions was issued in June, pushing the deadline to September 17. In July Reuters reported a deal was “close,” with TikTok building a new U.S. version of its app ahead of a planned sale “to a group of investors.” Now the platform is adding voice notes to DMs and image uploads in chats. Up to nine images or video clips can be added to individual or group chats. Continue reading TikTok Adds Voice Notes for DMs and Image Uploads in Chats

Meta Platforms has agreed to a six-year deal with Google Cloud valued at $10 billion as part of its push into artificial intelligence. Use of Google Cloud data centers are expected to help the social media giant bring leading-edge AI tools to market more quickly. This is the first agreement between Google Cloud and Meta, which continues to work with the number one and two global cloud providers by market share, Amazon Web Services (30 percent) and Microsoft Azure (20 percent). Third-place Google has been aggressively pursuing big cloud contracts as it seeks to grow its 13 percent share. Continue reading Meta Secures $10 Billion Deal with Google Cloud for AI Efforts

Instagram has started to let creators link multiple Reels, effectively creating their own “series.” The new capability, which TikTok already offers, makes it more convenient for viewers to discover and follow related content. The new “Link a Reel” feature lets creators sequentially either link generally related content or connect specific, sequentially related material, as in Part 2, Part 3, etc. Meta Platforms has also added a free AI-powered voice translation feature. Now available globally on Facebook and Instagram, it automatically dubs and lip syncs Reels into other languages using the sound and tone of the creator’s own voice. Continue reading Meta Updates Features for Reels on Facebook and Instagram

After 10 years of YouTube Music, global fans have created over 4 billion music playlists — including 1.8 billion public lists — and now the Google-owned platform is celebrating its decade landmark by adding new features to connect music fans. Coming soon are playlist comments that will appear directly on album and song lists “to keep the conversation going around the music you love.” Also new to the menu, “taste match” playlists, which update each day based on the listening habits of those who join. Additionally, YouTube has entered into an exclusive arrangement with Bandsintown to help promote live performances and much more. Continue reading YouTube Music Touts 10 Years with Live, Interactive Features

Meta Platforms has released an update for its Brand Rights Protection tools, which help businesses find and report misuse of their brand across advertising and user-generated content posted on popular social platforms Facebook and Instagram. Simultaneously, the company is expanding scam ad reporting to all Brand Rights Protection accounts, enabling businesses to report suspected scam ads at scale, and rolling out a simplified takedown request protocol to save brands time. The new features “include some of the most requested” tools by businesses who rely on these brand safety suites. Continue reading Meta Expands Brand Rights Protection on Its Social Platforms

Meta Platforms has launched a war against scammers who have infiltrated its popular messaging service WhatsApp, reportedly taking down more than 6.8 million accounts on the platform and adding features to help people identify fraudulent schemes in group and individual chats. Meta claims the scams go far beyond WhatsApp, involving crime syndicates linked to known fraud communities around the world. These criminal scam centers commonly use forced labor to target people across multiple apps, commonly disrupting WhatsApp, the mobile SMS tree that underpins private text messaging, as well as users of ChatGPT, TikTok, Telegram and blockchain. Continue reading WhatsApp Deletes Scam Accounts and Adds Safety Features

Feed is a new social platform featured within the Character.AI mobile app, which launched in 2023 and now has more than 20 million active users worldwide. Described as “TikTok-meets-ChatGPT,” the AI-native Feed is populated by AI-generated avatars, called Characters, created by the platform’s subscribers using the company’s tools. Characters can post AI-generated content, including videos, viewed in a scrollable format that invites familiar interactions like sharing, comments, follows and likes. What sets Feed apart, Character.AI says, is its vibe of a “remix playground,” as opposed to the “passive consumption” approach typical of conventional social platforms. Continue reading Character.AI Launches AI-First Social Platform Named ‘Feed’

YouTube is testing a new collaboration feature that allows creators to link other users’ content to their videos, enabling recommendations to followers of each account as a means of driving visibility and engagement. Creators can tag collaborators, who must approve before their name and audience reach is added to the clip. In addition to a collective graphic, a designation along the lines of “and three more” appears next to the name of the host account holder. When clicked, the “more” opens to display the hot-linked channels that are collaborating. Instagram and TikTok already have similar features in place. Continue reading YouTube Collaboration Tool Helps Creators Expand Audience

TikTok has released a host of new features, including a Community Notes-style fact-checking tool called Footnotes. Enhanced parental controls bring the ability to block specific accounts to guardians who are linked to minors’ accounts using the Family Pairing feature. Parents also now receive notifications when minors with whom they are paired upload new videos, stories or photos. Creator enhancements include a new TikTok Live comment tool that can block words from comment threads entirely. Those who use a specific phrase or have used it in the past are muted for a period stipulated by the creator. Continue reading TikTok Tightens Parental Control, Adds Community Footnotes

A bipartisan group of U.S. senators has introduced what they’re calling “a discussion draft” of a new anti-piracy bill, the Block Bad Electronic Art and Recording Distributors Act of 2025, known as the Block BEARD Act. Inspired by laws in the UK and Australia, Block BEARD proposes to allow federal courts to order ISPs to block foreign piracy websites that violate U.S. copyright law. It would provide copyright owners who have had their property stolen a new form of relief by having the courts interrupt foreign online piracy operations, preventing them from making unauthorized content available to U.S. households. Continue reading Bipartisan ‘Block BEARD’ Anti-Piracy Bill Surfaces in Senate

Amazon’s Alexa Fund VC has made an investment in San Francisco-based startup Fable, which this week launched Showrunner, a generative AI model with an app that lets people create animated TV shows using text prompts. Showrunner has been in a closed alpha test involving about 10,000 users. Initially, Fable is making Showrunner available for free, but plans to eventually price it at $10-$20 monthly for credits enabling creation of TV-style content on Discord. The Showrunner-generated content will be shareable on social media sites including YouTube. Specific terms of Amazon’s investment have yet to be disclosed. Continue reading Amazon Invests in Fable, Creator of the ‘Showrunner’ AI App

Google’s YouTube is adding new age-verification methods designed to protect teens. The streaming video platform is using AI to interpret “a variety of signals” to identify users under 18, regardless of the birthdate used to create the account. If the system identifies a user as a teen, age-appropriate protections will automatically take effect. These include disabling personalized advertising, restricted recommendations, limits on repetitive viewing of certain content and screen-time reminders. If the system incorrectly categorizes a user as under 18, they will have the option to correct the situation with a credit card or a government ID. Continue reading YouTube Deploying AI to Identify and Safeguard U.S. Minors

Google has added new AI features to Google Photos and YouTube Shorts. Having previously introduced generative backgrounds, YouTube Shorts now has a photo-to-video feature, as well as a variety of menu-driven effects accessible via the Shorts camera that aim to advance social media or arts project creativity — things like turning line drawings into watercolors, putting a selfie “underwater” or adding a digital twin. And Google Photos, available on just about every Android phone, now also has the ability to turn stills to video. For now, both rely on the Veo 2 video model rather than Veo 3, launched in May. Continue reading Google Photos, YouTube Shorts Offer New AI Creation Tools

Popular neighborhood news and social media platform Nextdoor is getting a redesign that aims to boost user engagement. The platform will be offering AI-curated advice, neighbor recommendations and insights, while emphasizing urgent posts, including a “critical alerts” system with “real-time updates on everything from daily weather and traffic to critical moments like power outages, severe storms, and wildfires.” Since launching in 2011, Nextdoor has accrued more than 100 million subscribers, the company says, adding that the shift to more remote and hybrid work means “people are spending more time in their neighborhoods,” making local connections increasingly relevant. Continue reading Nextdoor Redesign Emphasizes AI, Real-Time Critical Updates

Roblox has launched the Roblox License Manager, a self-service platform through which creators can submit applications to participating rights holders requesting use of IP in user-generated content for the virtual worlds platform. Participating companies are invited to identify content they are willing to license the new Roblox Licenses catalog, which creators can browse and use as the basis for applications that propose how the IP will be used. Rights holders can approve or decline the request and set terms. Netflix, Lionsgate, Sega and Japanese publishing firm Kodansha are the initial participants. Continue reading Roblox License Manager Lets Creators Connect with Studios