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

As the U.S. grapples with how to implement its own Internet age verification guardrails for minors, two Big Tech firms on opposite sides of the issue here have thrown their support behind French President Emmanuel Macron’s steps to safeguard EU children. Meta Platforms issued a statement lauding Macron’s idea for a “digital majority age” that requires parents to approve children’s access to services including social media. Simultaneously, Google open-sourced its Zero-Knowledge Proof (ZKP) libraries to help developers with privacy-compliant age verification solutions, a move that coincides with a partnership with German bank Sparkasse on a digital wallet age verification service. Continue reading Google, Meta Support Europe’s Online Age Verification Efforts

Meta Platforms is expanding AI support for WhatsApp, adding voice calling to customers for enterprise accounts, a feature that’s been available to small businesses for years. “In the coming weeks, larger businesses using the WhatsApp Business Platform will be able to receive a call from a customer when they want to talk to someone live or call a customer directly” on request. Meta announced in Miami at its fourth annual Conversations business messaging conference, saying the move “paves the way for AI-enabled voice support in the future.” The company also added WhatsApp to centralized marketing across Facebook and Instagram. Continue reading Meta Is Increasing WhatsApp Ad Capabilities and AI Support

In an effort to be more brand and creator friendly, TikTok is launching a broadcast channel feature called Bulletin Boards that shares in-app message updates. Essentially serving as one-to-many DM chats that fans can follow, Bulletin Boards can include text, images and video, with text limited to 1,000 characters and 20 bulletins daily. While fans can react by posting emoji to Bulletin Board posts, they cannot otherwise reply. The move comes as TikTok seeks to expand its brand toolkit, even updating its Symphony advertising suite to allow brands to create content that mimics material posted by influencers. Continue reading TikTok Offers Bulletin Boards for Direct-to-Many Broadcasts

TikTok is reporting that TikTok Shop’s U.S. sales have increased 120 percent in 2025 compared to the same period last year. However, this announcement was made as reports surfaced that TikTok owner ByteDance is disappointed that the U.S. performance of TikTok Shop is falling far short of its original tenfold growth goal to $17.5 billion in 2025. The company reportedly moved to “drastically lower that objective” prior to touting its performance this month. Meanwhile, President Trump recently extended the deadline for ByteDance to sell the U.S. operations of TikTok, pushing the cutoff to September 17. Continue reading TikTok Shop’s U.S. Sales Improve but Still Fall Short of Goals

Meta Platforms is opening its WhatsApp messaging service to advertising. The company revealed that three ad modules will roll out gradually. The ads will be positioned under WhatsApp’s Updates tab, a section discreet from WhatsApp’s users’ message inboxes and private chats. The Updates tab is also the entry point to WhatsApp’s Status feature, which lets users share photos, videos and text that disappear after 24 hours, similar to Instagram Stories. Meta says the Updates tab gets 1.5 billion visitors per day. The company is also seeking to monetize WhatsApp’s Channels feature by offering paid subscriptions and promoted Channels. Continue reading Meta Platforms Is Gradually Bringing Advertising to WhatsApp

Snapchat has introduced new editing tools designed to make it easier for creators to produce and share content on its platform. Capabilities of the new “Timeline Editor” include generating videos from saved Memories and viewing video content in a chronological way, making it simpler to move and rearrange clips. The “Create a Video” feature provides templates that let users select Memories vids, pick a song from the Snapchat Sounds library and generate a custom video compilation. The ability to auto-save public Stories to profiles has been added as Snapchat seeks to build-out creator tools to compete with Instagram and TikTok. Continue reading Snapchat Expands Its Video Editing Tools and Adds Analytics

Meta is launching a generative AI video editing tool, available in the Meta AI app, via the Meta.AI website and in the Edits app for Facebook and Instagram. Users are now able to transform 10 seconds of video using preset AI prompts that can change an outfit, location, style and more. The company says the feature is “inspired by” its Movie Gen models and promises it is the “first step toward our goal of bringing you AI video generation and editing across our apps and products,” with Meta AI video editing able to handle individualized text prompts later this year. The free tool is now available in the U.S. and about a dozen countries around the world. Continue reading Meta Rolls Out AI Video Editor Available via App and the Web

YouTube has loosened its rules regarding content moderation, instructing its moderators to prioritize “freedom of expression” over perceived risks of harm in assessing what to take down for the popular video platform. Although the move hasn’t been widely publicized, it was gleaned through leaks of moderator training material that made its way to the media. YouTube becomes the latest in a string of social platforms that have relaxed content moderation standards. Unlike Elon Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) and Facebook and Instagram owner Meta, YouTube and its parent Google have refrained from public comment on the move. Continue reading YouTube Latest Social Platform to Loosen Content Moderation

Snapchat is offering experimental augmented reality and generative AI tools through its new Lens Studio iOS app and web tool. According to the company, “you can generate your own AI effects, add your dancing Bitmoji to the fun, and express yourself with Lenses that reflect your mood or an inside joke.” The app responds to text prompts, producing filters that can be published to Snapchat. Snap previously offered generative AI capabilities only to professional creators as part of its Lens Studio. The company has also launched an app that lets users read and reply to messages using their Apple Watch. For professional developers, Snap’s Lens Studio has added tools to build Bitmoji games. Continue reading GenAI Powers Snapchat Tools for Creating AR Lenses, Bitmoji