Leaked report shows Instagram knows it damages mental health
An internal presentation outlining two years of research on the psychological effects of Instagram has been leaked. The reports conflict with company representative’s public narratives of the platform. By now, we’re all aware of the potentially negative consequences of social media use, whether that knowledge was obtained through our own...
Current in Social
Most Gen Zers worry about being addicted to their phones
A new survey of over 2,000 adults by OnePoll indicates that almost 75% of young people worry about smartphone addiction. Should we be surprised at the numbers? Every wondered if you rely on your phone too much? Taking gadgets to the bathroom, sleeping next to a charger, or catching up...
TikTok expands its first-party creative tools with AR Effects Studio
With AR developers opting for Facebook and Snapchat as their go-to apps for creating effects, TikTok is set to completely overhaul its own creative features. Could this spell the beginning of the end for TikTok’s feeder platforms? As TikTok moves to stop feeder AR softwares like Spark AR and Snap...
Facebook plans to become ‘water positive’ by 2030
The social media giant has announced it will restore more water than it uses globally within the next decade, intensifying the competition between tech firms to become carbon neutral. Your nan’s favourite source of stale memes and clickbait headlines, Facebook, has just announced plans to become ‘water positive’ by...
Twitter finally makes reporting misinformation simple for users
Following mounting pressure from the White House, Twitter has announced a new user feature intended to better tackle the online spread of misinformation. If ever there was a specific period to really underpin the dangers of misinformation, with Covid-19, the introduction of 5G, and the US presidential election, 2020 was...
The new Ugandan app tackling online abuse against women
A Ugandan tech company called Pollicy has created an interactive game to help women across Africa become digitally literate and clued up on digital safety. The digital game, Digital Safe-tea, provides women with digital safety training by allowing them to confront online violence scenarios as three different personas: Goitse, Aisha, and...
Facebook, Twitter, and WhatsApp suspended during Zambia’s election
Zambia officials threatened to suspend all broadband services on the day of its election to combat misinformation. In the end, its Ministry of Information froze traffic on WhatsApp, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. In the fight to stem the spread political misinformation during its presidential election, has Zambia compromised a sense of genuine democracy? When it comes to political advertising, social media sites frankly don’t know whether to stick or twist. Throughout large...
Facebook accused of using ‘privacy concerns’ to avoid data transparency
Back again with yet another story concerning data privacy and Facebook. But, there’s a twist this time around – Facebook is on the offensive. General public opinion of Facebook has all but fallen off a cliff in recent years. Following the blunder of Cambridge Analytica, we’ve heard endless stories of political manipulation on the app, nefarious sales through Facebook Marketplace, and a lax approach to user privacy and misinformation...
Study suggests Gen Z prioritise digital life over real life
A new survey shows that young people now believe the way you present yourself online is more important than real life. Is our digital avatar now the priority? If you’ve been active online at all during the last fifteen years, you’ll no doubt have made at least one social media profile somewhere. Whether it be MSN or Myspace in the early noughties, or TikTok and Snapchat in the present day,...
Twitter India concedes to Modi’s problematic digital media law
Twitter joins Facebook and YouTube as the latest digital platform complicit in India’s problematic digital media law. Is it a matter of time before the whole of Silicon Valley caves to legal pressure? Digital democracy is fast dying out within India’s borders, as social media companies cave at the prospect of losing the world’s second largest market. Just three months ago, we were pleased to report that Twitter had abstained...
