Should Snapchat be allowed to charge users for storage?
Picture-sharing platform Snapchat has announced a new paid subscription system for storage exceeding over 5GB. Should big tech companies be allowed to charge for services that were once free? Snapchat, the image-sharing service mostly used by Gen Zers, will begin charging users for any storage exceeding 5GB. This includes all...
Current in Social
TikTok wants you to fact-check your For You Page
With its new ‘footnotes’ feature, the platform is betting on crowdsourced context to clean up the chaos of viral video culture. TikTok’s endless scroll has always been a cocktail of brilliance, absurdity, and the occasional conspiracy theory. For every dance challenge or cooking hack, there’s a dubious wellness tip promising...
Is it possible to detach from your phone?
The growing dependency on tech is driving us apart. But there are ways to prevent being swallowed by your phone. ‘84% of Americans say they are online either several times a day or ‘almost constantly,’ writes Christina Caron. I must amidst I didn’t even bat an eyelid at that...
The timing of the UK’s Online Safety Act launch is terrible
The sweeping regulation arrives amid notable public mistrust of government and fears surrounding data privacy. You’ve probably noticed in one way or another that the UK’s Online Safety Act is now in full effect. I, uh, read as much on July 24th. If you attempt to load up porn websites,...
Meta set to invest hundreds of billions on AI data centres
The company’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that it will be investing hundreds of billions on AI centres that will cover an area almost as large as Manhattan. Mark Zuckerberg has announced that Meta will be splashing out the cash and investing heavily in AI data centres across the...
Why Gen Z is ditching real friends for AI companions
Teens are turning to chatbots for comfort. It might sound dystopian, but in our increasingly isolated world it makes a lot of sense. It starts innocently enough. A 15-year-old girl downloads an AI chatbot app like Replika or Character.AI, just to see what all the TikTok buzz is about. Maybe...
Jack Dorsey’s launches Bluetooth messaging app Bitchat
Bitchat is a decentralised and encrypted chat service able to send and receive messages through Bluetooth signal – and without WiFi or phone service. Will it become an instant hit? Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey has just launched a new peer-to-peer massaging app that works without WiFi or phone service. Bitchat instead utilises a phone’s Bluetooth signal to allow for messages to be sent and received between contacts in the same...
Zuckerberg school closures reflect wider shift among US billionaires
The quiet decision to retract funding for a US primary school has caused the institution to shutter – leaving disadvantaged kids in the crossfire. By all accounts, The Primary School in East Palo Alto, California, was designed to be an ambitious experiment in breaking the cycle of intergenerational poverty. Founded in 2016 with the backing of the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative (CZI), the school offered something few public institutions could: not...
Is virality ruining everything?
As more of us turn to social media for recommendations, is the joy of a hidden gem at risk of extinction? I used to have a thing for secrecy, at least when it came to food. I revelled in the smug satisfaction of knowing about a low-lit bar that only opens two days a week, or the ramen place tucked behind a dry cleaners that doesn’t accept card. I believed...
WhatsApp introduces ads into its feed for the first time
After teasing possible advertisement placements for several years, Meta has finally launched an update on WhatsApp that will roll the feature out publicly. Businesses will be able to display ads in the ‘updates’ tab. The popular text-based messaging platform WhatsApp now features business advertisements for the first time. As part of an update this week, parent company Meta announced that companies can now place ads in the ‘updates’ tab, where users...
