New York State Attorney General Letitia James has released proposed rules that would restrict minors from exposure to addictive features on social media pursuant to the Stop Addictive Feeds Exploitation (SAFE) for Kids Act, signed into state law last year to “protect the mental health of children.” The law, which is expected to take effect sometime next year, requires social media companies that supply addictive content to use an age verification system with results “certified by a verified third-party.” Absent parental consent, platform operators must restrict users under 18 from receiving addictive or algorithmically personalized feeds and nighttime notifications. Continue reading SAFE for Kids Act: NY State Attorney Opens Comment Period

Meta Platforms has unveiled new advertising options at its annual Brand Building Summit, touting in-stream opportunities for Reels and carousel ads for Threads, which now has 400 million monthly active users. To make it easier for brands to leverage that user base, Meta has enabled the creation of a Threads profile using an Instagram account. Additionally, existing Facebook or Instagram posts can now be used to create a Threads ad in Ads Manager. Meta also says that as of November, qualified advertisers will be able to use Ads Manager to tap into Reels trending content on a self-serve basis. Continue reading Meta Rolls Out New Advertising Options for Reels and Threads

Pinterest has added multiple “where-to-buy” options it says make it easier for consumers to shop with Pins. This new menu of links allows brand advertisers to drive potential customers to a selection of purchase sites instead of a single source, surfacing multiple in-stock retailer options for a product directly from an ad. Pinterest claims the new presentation format offers richer purchase data and new CPG opportunities. Advertisers will no longer face the “tough choice” of directing shoppers to a retail site for a familiar purchase experience but losing valuable insights or linking to their own site and sacrificing lower-funnel performance. Continue reading Pinterest Says Where-to-Buy Links Add Richer Purchase Data

Amazon Music has a new AI-powered personalization feature called Weekly Vibe that is designed to keep playlists fresh and prevent listeners from tiring of the same songs. The feature is available to iOS and Android users in the U.S. across all subscription tiers. Every Monday, Weekly Vibe will update playlists to reflect recent listening choices, taking into account musical interests and moods. It will also suggest new music based on demonstrated patterns and preferences. Weekly Vibe builds on the Maestro AI playlist generator Amazon Music launched in beta last year. Continue reading Amazon Music Adds Weekly Vibe AI Playlists Across All Tiers

Robinhood, the online brokerage aimed at individual investors, is launching Robinhood Social, which will allow users to follow each other’s profits and losses and feature public figure profiles. Membership will initially be extended to select Robinhood customers, starting early next year, with broader availability to follow. Robinhood says the move is based on feedback from active traders who say they rely heavily on social media to navigate the markets. Since it can be challenging to differentiate between legitimate posts and sponsored message or misinformation, Robinhood Social aims to make the process more transparent, according to the company. Continue reading Robinhood Brokerage Set to Launch a Social Media Platform

TikTok has teamed with Fandango to sell movie tickets, allowing entertainment fans “to go from movie discovery to ticket purchase directly within the TikTok app.” The integration is powered by TikTok Spotlight, a film and TV vertical the social platform launched last summer. The first film on offer is Disney’s “Tron: Ares,” opening in theaters October 10. “Fans will see a ‘Get Tickets’ button on movie-related in-app hubs, which will seamlessly connect them to Fandango’s ticketing flow,” TikTok explains, noting that from there, moviegoers can select seats and purchase tickets. Continue reading TikTok Partners with Fandango for In-App Movie Ticket Sales

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