Tag Archives: Instagram

The Verge reports: Just as Facebook’s Antigone Davis was live on CNBC defending the company’s policies and its handling of research data suggesting Instagram is harmful to teens, its network of services suddenly went offline. On Twitter, Facebook communications exec Andy Stone says, “We’re aware that some people are having trouble accessing our apps and products. We’re working to get …

CNBC reports: Facebook, which faced sharp criticism from lawmakers and users for its plan to develop an Instagram for kids, announced Monday it’s pausing work on the project. “While we believe building ‘Instagram Kids’ is the right thing to do, Instagram, and its parent company Facebook, will re-evaluate the project at a later date. In the interim Instagram will continue …

Politico reports: The Federal Trade Commission has filed a new antitrust complaint against Facebook, rebooting a high-stakes case to break up the social media giant after a federal judge tossed the agency’s original complaint in June. Progressive FTC Chair Lina Khan joined with her two Democratic colleagues in a 3-2 party-line vote Wednesday to file the new complaint. The agency’s …

Vice News reports: Scammers are abusing Instagram’s protections against suicide, self-harm, and impersonation to purposefully target and ban Instagram accounts at will, with some people even advertising professionalized ban-as-a-service offerings so anyone can harass or censor others. It appears that in some cases, the same scammers who offer ban-as-a-service also offer or are at least connected to services to restore …

NBC News reports: Most Americans admit they use social media at least once a day, but they also believe platforms like Facebook and Twitter are doing more to divide the nation than to bring it together, according to brand-new results from the latest national NBC News poll. Overall, 66 percent of adults say they use social media once a day …

The Argus Courier reports: Katie Sorensen, of Sonoma, faces two misdemeanor charges four months after she accused a Latino couple from Petaluma of attempting to kidnap her two children Dec. 7 at the local craft store. She would later document the allegations, now widely viewed as a case of racial profiling, in two Instagram videos that garnered 4.5 million views …

Buzzfeed News reports: Executives at Instagram are planning to build a version of the popular photo-sharing app that can be used by children under the age of 13, according to an internal company post obtained by BuzzFeed News. Current Instagram policy forbids children under the age of 13 from using the service. According to the post, the work would be …

Mashable reports: Instagram is introducing a new feature today that will allow users to run joint live streams with three other people, letting you broadcast the group video chat for the world to see. Called Live Rooms, the feature ups the number of accounts that can join an IG Live from two to four. So it’s kind of like Zoom, …

CNN Business reports: Instagram on Wednesday took down the account of controversial anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. “We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” a spokesperson for Facebook, which owns Instagram, said in a statement. Kennedy, the son of late former US Attorney General, US Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, …

The Washington Post reports: State and federal investigators are preparing to bring antitrust charges against Facebook that will challenge the tech giant’s acquisition of two rivals, Instagram and WhatsApp, alleging that the deals helped create an anti-competitive social networking juggernaut that has left users with few quality alternatives. The charges form a critical part of what could be a wide-ranging …

Reuters reports: Facebook Inc’s Instagram said today it was making changes to its image sharing platform for U.S. users to prevent the spread of misinformation around the Nov. 3 presidential election. For users in the United States, Instagram temporarily removed the “Recent” tab from hashtag pages starting Thursday, it said in a statement on Twitter. “We’re doing this to reduce …

The New York Daily News reports: A fitness influencer died from COVID-19 complications days after admitting he was wrong to think the virus didn’t exist, his ex-wife announced in a heartbreaking tribute over the weekend. Dmitriy “Dima” Stuzhuk, who had more than 1.1 million followers on Instagram, began feeling sick during a recent trip to Turkey and was immediately hospitalized …

The Independent reports: President Donald Trump’s daughter Tiffany Trump joined the Black Lives Matter Instagram blackout on Tuesday amid nationwide protests over the death of George Floyd. On her Instagram post, Trump also attached a quote from Helen Keller and the hashtags “#blackoutTuesday” and “#justiceforgeorgefloyd.” The blackout posts “are intended as a way of expressing solidarity with the Black Lives …

The Daily Beast reports: The Bloomberg campaign has quietly begun a campaign on Tribe, a “branded content marketplace” that connects social-media influencers with the brands that want to advertise to their followers, to pitch influencers on creating content highlighting why they love the former New York City mayor—for a price. For a fixed $150 fee, the Bloomberg campaign is pitching …

Axios reports: Former First Lady Michelle Obama is partnering with the digital media company ATTN: to launch a video series on IGTV, Instagram’s video platform. “A Year of Firsts” shows inspiring stories about students navigating their first year through college. Why it matters: The Obamas have maintained a strong media presence through civic media projects on newer tech platforms. The …

Business Insider reports:  The Federal Trade Commission is mulling whether to file an injunction against the social networking giant that could block it from its plans to stitch together its WhatsApp messaging service with the chat features of Instagram and those of its core Facebook app. The injunction could also block the company from enforcing its rules about how apps …

NPR reports: Like seriously, if you post something to the ‘gram and not one of your followers hits “like” is it even worth sharing? Beginning next week, some U.S. users of Instagram will be able to test this theory as the social media platform will begin hiding the “likes” counter that appears underneath a posted photo or video. “Right now …

The Verge reports: Just how uncool can Facebook make Instagram and WhatsApp? If exerting more influence over the direction of both apps by installing Facebook executives wasn’t enough, now the social network giant is going to add “Facebook” to their names. Instagram will soon become “Instagram from Facebook” and WhatsApp will turn into “WhatsApp from Facebook.” The company already follows …

The Independent reports: By now, it’s a well-known fact that politicians and social media go hand-in-hand. The latest politician to illustrate this is Bernie Sanders, who has been extremely active on Instagram. The US senator for Vermont, and potential Democrat presidential candidate, took to Instagram on Sunday and shared the bizarre video in an effort to raise money for his …

New Scientist reports: Instagram is cracking down on misinformation about vaccinations by blocking hashtags that include verifiably false information about the subject. Phase one of the crackdown involved removing hashtags promoting overt medical misinformation about vaccines — such as #VaccinesCauseAutism or #VaccinesCauseAIDS, both of which have been debunked by leading public health organizations. Now, Instagram says it is looking to …