Social

WhatsApp may be developing a UPI Lite functionality for users, according to a report. It is speculated to simplify the payment process by enabling them to carry out transactions without entering the PIN. Similar to other platforms, WhatsApp’s in-development feature was spotted following an APK teardown of a beta version of the app and it

Instagram is deliberating over plans of launching a standalone app for its short-form Reels video content, according to a report. With this purported launch, the social media platform is expected to introduce itself in the short-form video app space. It is largely dominated by TikTok — the ByteDance-owned video-hosting service which recently made the headlines

Instagram on Wednesday announced new features for direct messages (DMs). It adds the capability of translating messages in different languages in 1:1 chats, enables users to schedule messages, and makes it easier to share music with others without leaving the chat window. And while Instagram previously allowed users to pin up to three chat threads

Instagram on Thursday announced a new avenue for creators to earn money through partnership advertisements called Testimonials. It is a type of content which a brand posts in collaboration with a creator for the promotion of a product or service. Such ads are featured on the creator’s Instagram handle in the form of videos or

YouTube added a new artificial intelligence (AI) feature for the creators on the platform on Thursday. The video streaming platform announced that Google’s Veo 2 AI model is being integrated with the Dream Screen feature. The new video generation model also adds the capability for users to generate standalone AI-generated videos. The company says the

WhatsApp is said to be working on a new feature for its iOS app that will allow users to add their Instagram profile links to their account. As per the claims by a feature tracker, the new addition is aimed at letting users showcase their social media profiles in the same space to let their

Instagram is introducing its Teen Accounts functionality to users in India, as part of ongoing efforts to keep younger users safe on the Meta-owned platform. The feature restricts the functionality of accounts owned by underage users on the service, while requiring parental consent to change some settings on the platform. Instagram will also allow parents

WhatsApp is developing a new feature for its Android app which lets users open a media file that has been set as ‘View Once’ on linked devices, according to claims by a feature tracker. It is said to be introduced with a recent update of the WhatsApp beta for Android app and is currently only

X Money was unveiled on Tuesday by Elon Musk’s X, the microblogging platform formerly known as Twitter. The new digital wallet and payments service is set to enable users to send and receive money, in a peer to peer (P2P) system. Users will be able to transfer money from their bank account to a digital

US President Donald Trump told reporters on Monday that Microsoft is in talks to acquire TikTok and that he would like to see a bidding war over the app. Microsoft declined to comment. TikTok and ByteDance did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for a comment outside regular business hours. TikTok, which has about 170 million American users, was briefly taken offline just before a law requiring

WhatsApp introduced the ’View Once’ feature for photos and videos in August 2021 and it was brought to voice messages in December 2023. To enable the feature for any given media, the sender is required to tap the ‘1′ icon before sharing. All media shared with the View Once toggle enabled disappears after it is viewed or

An Indian tribunal temporarily suspended a five-year data sharing ban between WhatsApp and owner Meta Platforms, a major relief for the U.S. giant which had warned its advertising business will be affected. Meta had challenged the Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) directive issued in November that imposed a ban on data sharing between WhatsApp and

Instagram is tipped to be working on implementing Community Notes on its platform. As per a tipster, the Meta-owned platform is adding a new option to write a community note to the published posts. The leaked information comes weeks after Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg announced shutting down of the existing fact-checking programme, citing censorship mistakes

WhatsApp will soon benefit from an optional integration with Meta Accounts Centre with the aim of delivering a more connected experience, the company announced on Tuesday. This move will enable users to share their WhatsApp statuses automatically on other Meta Platforms’ apps such as Facebook and Instagram. It is also claimed to make it easier

Meta’s Facebook, Elon Musk’s X, Google’s YouTube and other tech companies have agreed to do more to tackle online hate speech under an updated code of conduct that will now be integrated into EU tech rules, the European Commission said on Monday. Other signatories to the voluntary code set up in May 2016 are Dailymotion,

Instagram is rolling out several profile-based changes that might not be up to users’ liking. The Meta-owned platform began testing vertical grids on profiles in August 2024, and is now rolling it out to all users. This will now change the current square grids into vertical grids and can potentially alter the curated profiles where

Instagram announced a new standalone app Monday that lets creators edit their videos with even more creativity and precision than what the social media platform currently offers. Called ‘Edits’, it arrives as a mobile video editing solution with a suite of creative tools such as enabling high quality video capture, dedicated tab for drafts and videos,

Elon Musk was sued on Tuesday by the US Securities and Exchange Commission, which accused the world’s richest person of waiting too long to disclose in 2022 he had amassed a large stake in Twitter, the social media company he later bought. In a complaint filed in Washington, D.C. federal court, the SEC said Musk

Chinese officials are evaluating a potential option that involves Elon Musk acquiring the US operations of TikTok if the company fails to fend off a controversial ban on the short-video app, according to people familiar with the matter. Beijing officials strongly prefer that TikTok remains under the ownership of parent ByteDance Ltd., the people say,

Brazil’s government will give Meta until Monday to explain the changes to its fact-checking program, Solicitor General Jorge Messias said on Friday. The move comes after the social media company scrapped its US fact-checking program and reduced curbs on discussions around topics such as immigration and gender identity. It is not immediately clear exactly what