X has announced the latest addition to Community Notes as the social platform seeks ways to replace third-party fact checkers. The company is giving developers the option of building AI bots that can write notes that provide further details, clarity and context for posts.

The AI Note Writers are not being allowed to run completely free, however. X says that the aim of the AI Note Writer API is to help humans rather than replace them, pointing out that the bots “must earn the ability to write notes, and can gain and lose capabilities over time”.

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Looking to compete with the likes of Signal, Elon Musk is ready to rollout XChat to all users of his X social platform. Rather than being a separate app for chatting, however, XChat is essentially just direct messaging within X -- so who is it for, and what does it have to offer?

Taking inspiration from numerous sources, Musk says that in addition to text-based messaging, there is also video and audio calling. Other features include vanishing messages, the option to “send any kind of file”, and an undetailed encryption system.

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Post an image to Instagram and it will almost certainly be automatically cropped. The reason for this is that, until now, the platform has supported 4:5 aspect ratio images, as well as the Instagram staple -- the square format.

But this is not in line with how most people shoot photographs, and the platform is finally taking this into account. There is now support for a new (new to Instagram, at least), aspect ratio.

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While WhatsApp is, ostensibly, a messaging, chat and video calling platform, it is more than that; it is also a pseudo social media platform. The Status section of WhatsApp has gradually evolved over the years to become a way to not only indicate your availability, but to express much more.

And now Status has received another massive upgrade. It is now possible to display a collage of multiple photos, share music, and much more. A plethora of new options are rolling out globally; here's what you have to look forward to.

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X, the social platform formerly known as Twitter, just yanked one of its most important privacy features. In a quiet and deeply troubling move, the company announced it is pausing end-to-end encrypted direct messages. Worst of all, there is no clear timeline or meaningful explanation.

According to a post from the official engineering account, encrypted DMs are being temporarily suspended while the team works on improvements. But here’s the kicker: users can still send and receive DMs, they just won’t be encrypted anymore. In other words, your messages are now visible to anyone at X with the right level of access. Hell, this potentially makes them more accessible to hackers too!

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Using WhatsApp on an iPad has long meant making a compromise or two. The reason is that there has simply not been a version of WhatsApp designed for Apple's tablet, forcing users to turn to WhatsApp Web in Safari.

After an incredibly long period of development, Meta has finally produced an iPad version of WhatsApp. So how does the iPadOS port of WhatsApp look?

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WhatsApp has announced the expansion of its Voice Chat feature for groups. The live audio feature is something that was well-received when it first appeared in the chat app, so the wider rollout makes a lot of sense. There is a twist, however.

While the feature is now available to more users than before, the expansion is not like most feature expansions.

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A few weeks after announcing plans for a different approach to account verification, X rival Bluesky has quietly launched the feature.

The decentralized social media platform has now started to open up verification to users. While any individuals or organizations can apply for verification or, indeed, to become a Trusted Verifier, it is certainly not the case that all applications will be successful.

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Under a great deal of political pressure to do so, many social media platforms have opted to move away from using fact checking services. X and Facebook are among those to have adopted a “community notes” system that relies on crowd sourcing rather than third party companies.

Such systems have faced criticism because of the potential for manipulation, but these risks have been downplayed by social media firms. But now X has decided to take steps to improve its own Community Notes system to help detect suspicious activity that could be indicative of manipulation attempts.

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Time was when office colleagues would exchange information, ideas and gossip around the water cooler or coffee machine.

That's changing because of technology though, new research reveals that platforms like TikTok and Instagram are directly influencing how 83 percent of people communicate professionally, fueling conflict and misunderstanding among an increasingly intergenerational workforce.

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GLAAD has published the 2025 edition of its Social Media Safety Index, and it shows that the six biggest social media platforms are doing nowhere near enough to keep LGBTQIA+ users safe.

The report looks at the policies and protections of TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, and X, ranking them with a score out of 100. X comes in last place with a score of just 30, and with the highest score being a mere 56 out of 100, it’s clear there is a lot of work to do.

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For all of the talk about establishing and maintaining connections, for the companies behind them social media platforms are about making money. Advertising plays a massive role in this, and Meta is looking for new ways to grab users’ attention.

The company has announced it is testing video ads on Threads as it explores expanding its portfolio of ad formats. There are also new ad options for creators and brands on Facebook and Instagram, as well as the slightly unusual sounding “trending ads” feature.

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Meta has announced some interesting new features for its Threads social platform, and there are other unannounced ones that have been spotted as well.

In the name of transparency, Account Status is starting to roll out so users can find out more about violations they have been committed and if any posts have been demoted.

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President Trump has made much of wanting to ban TikTok from operating in the US. In fact, he’s talked about it so much, and -- initially, at least -- with such passion, that you’d be forgiven for thinking that it was one of his top priorities.

But having already delayed the implementation of a ban twice, Trump has now indicated that he’d be willing to do so again. And the reason for doing so is just hilarious.

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Remember Threads? Meta’s most recent foray into social media caused something of a splash when it first emerged, but it quickly became just another platform. Seemingly worried that not enough people are using it, Meta is now using Instagram as a way of pushing Threads usage.

While Meta has said nothing about it in any form of announcement, existing Threads users have started to notice that they are being prompted to cross-post content to Instagram. The hope, presumably, is that Instagram users yet to try out Threads will be tempted into doing so.

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