Facebook’s hand-picked ‘oversight’ panel upholds Trump ban — for now
Facebook’s content decision review body, a quasi-external panel that’s been likened to a ‘Supreme Court of Facebook’ but isn’t staffed by sitting judges, can’t be truly independent of the tech giant which funds it, has no legal legitimacy or democratic accountabi
For Trump and Facebook, judgment day is around the corner
Facebook unceremoniously confiscated Trump's biggest social media megaphone months ago, but the former president might be poised to snatch it back.
Facebook's Oversight Board, an external Supreme Court-like policy decision making group, will either restore Trump's Facebook privileges or
A new YouTube feature will make its connected TV ads more shoppable
YouTube today gave advertisers a sneak peek at its plans to make its video platform more shoppable. The company will soon be introducing a new interactive feature aimed at advertisers, called brand extensions, which will allow YouTube viewers to learn more about a product they see on the screen wit
Live video platform Bright lets you Zoom with your favorite creators
What if you could Zoom with your favorite creator and ask them questions? That’s the promise of Bright, the new live video platform launching today from co-founders Guy Oseary and early YouTube product manager Michael Powers. The service, built on top of Zoom, allows fans to engage in live, f
Instagram adds a captions option for Stories and soon, Reels
Instagram is making its video Stories and Reels more accessible with the launch of a new “captions sticker” that will allow users to watch without having the sound on. The addition will not only make it easier for users who are hard of hearing or deaf to engage with video content, it al
Amazon’s over-the-top business, including IMDb TV and Twitch, tops 120M monthly viewers
Amazon’s free, ad-supported streaming service IMDb TV is getting its own mobile app. The company announced the news today at its first-ever NewFronts presentation to advertisers, where it also shared that its over-the-top streaming businesses combined — meaning, IMDb TV, Twitch, live sp
Sony announces investment and partnership with Discord to bring the chat app to PlayStation
Sony and Discord have announced a partnership that will integrate the latter’s popular gaming-focused chat app with PlayStation’s own built-in social tools. It’s a big move and a fairly surprising one given how recently acquisition talks were in the air — Sony appears to have of
Twitter expands Spaces to anyone with 600+ followers, details plans for tickets, reminders and more
Twitter Spaces, the company’s new live audio rooms feature, is opening up more broadly. The company announced today it’s making Twitter Spaces available to any account with 600 followers or more, including both iOS and Android users. It also officially unveiled some of the features it
Epic Games buys artist community ArtStation, drops commissions to 12%
One the same day as Fortnite maker Epic Games goes to trial with one of the biggest legal challenges to the App Store’s business model to date, it has simultaneously announced the acquisition of the artist portfolio community ArtStation — and immediately lowered the commissions on sales
Clubhouse begins externally testing its Android app
Clubhouse, the voice-based networking app that’s now being knocked off by every major tech platform, is bringing its service to Android. The company announced during its weekly townhall event that its Android version has entered beta testing with a handful of non-employees who will provide th
Private equity firm Apollo to buy Verizon Media assets for $5B, will rename business ‘Yahoo’
Following several days of negotiation and rumors, Verizon today announced that it has entered an agreement to sell its media assets to private equity firm Apollo Global Management for $5 billion. Apollo will be paying Verizon $4.25 billion in cash, along with preferred interests of $750 million, an
Facebook rolls out vaccine finder tool in India, donates $10 million
Facebook has announced a $10 million grant to support emergency response efforts in India and has rolled out its Vaccine Finder tool in the country as the South Asian nation grapples with the latest wave of the coronavirus pandemic.
The American social network said that it has partnered with a numb
ByteDance CFO assumes role as new TikTok CEO
Eight months after former TikTok CEO Kevin Mayer quit in the midst of a full-court press from the Trump administration against the Chinese-owned social media giant, TikTok finally has a new permanent leader.
ByteDance’s recently hired CFO Shouzi Chew will be assuming the role as TikTok CEO wh
Riot Games updates its privacy notice to start developing voice comms moderation
Anyone who has played a video game with voice chat in the past decade knows that there is some risk involved. You might be greeted by friendly teammates, but you may also hear some of the most toxic language you’ve ever heard in your life.
Riot Games, the game developer behind ultra popular t