If you’ve decided to stick with X after Elon Musk took over Twitter and started to systematically destroy anything good that was left there (which, admittedly was not much) you’ve probably made extensive use of the Block function to filter out some of the crap that flows through the social media sewer. Now the value of blocking is about to be diminished.

Musk has confirmed that the functionality of the block button is changing. The change means that while an account you have blocked will not be able to interact with you or your posts, they will be able to see any posts that you’ve written. It’s an idea that has already been met with criticism, with many voicing concerns about privacy implications.

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Artificial intelligence is underpinned by the data used to train it, and even in this early stage of the game this has already proved controversial. In addition to complaints about the use of copyrighted content to train AIs, concern has also been voiced about the use of personal data.

Elon Musk, unsurprisingly, wants a slice of the AI pie, and is looking to train up the Grok AI model. The social platform formerly known as Twitter, X, is being used as a source of training data, meaning that your tweets (sorry, posts) are, by default, being sucked up for this very purpose.

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Whether you use WhatsApp on the desktop, or on your mobile device, there are a raft of changes and improvements coming to enhance the call experience.

Rolling out over the next few weeks, the changes include support for video calls with up to 32 people across all devices. There is also the arrival of sharing audio when screen sharing, and a switch to the new, more efficient codec means that you can expect higher call quality even when connectivity is poor.

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Making good on a promise made earlier this year, X has confirmed that Likes have now been made private for all users on the social platform. Elon Musk says that that change has been made because it is "important to allow people to like posts without getting attacked for doing so".

Hiding Likes was something that was only previously available to paying X subscribers, but now it has rolled out to everyone. Musk is already claiming that there has been a "massive increase" in Likes since they were made private.

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The groundswell of interest in the fediverse really kicked off when Elon Musk took over at Twitter, renamed it X, and made a seemingly endless series of controversial changes and decisions. A large number of users sought new homes, and the likes of Bluesky and Mastodon reaped the benefits.

Another recent entrant into the social arena is Threads -- Meta's answer to X. For quite some time there has been talk about plans to plug Threads into the fediverse, much to the disgust of many Mastodon users. Now this day has rolled around, with Mark Zuckerberg announcing that fediverse integration is now available to some users in beta.

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Meta has announced a series of updates to Instagram, all of which are likely to be welcomed by users. Perhaps the most significant change is the option to edit the DMs you've sent, but there are other notable new features -- including disabling read receipts.

The latest round of Instagram updates also sees the introduction of a message pinning option that makes it easier to access keys one-on-one or group chats. On top of all this, reply options have been upgraded, new themes have been added, and more.

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Continuing to prove that it has not forgotten about Windows 10, Microsoft has released the KB5034843 update. It not only addresses a number of issues, but also adds new features to the operating system.

The most significant change to be found in this update is the ability to share web links to a number of social platforms directly. There is also the promise that expanded support is on the horizon.

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Google and Reddit have "expanded and deepened" their existing partnership in a deal that will give the search giant near-unfettered access to content posted on the site. As well as helping users to find Reddit content via the search engine, the move also means that Redditor's posts will be used to train Google's AI models.

Reddit says that in giving Google access to it Data API, it will be "easier to discover and access the communities and conversations people are looking for". It is being pushed by both companies as a way of promoting the "open internet", but it is something that is proving conversial.

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Catching up with just about every other messaging app currently available, WhatsApp has finally expanded the range of text formatting options it offers.

Before you get too excited, though, temper your expectations -- you're not being given access to word processor-like options. Joining the existing bold, italic, strikethrough and monospace options are new code, quote and list options complete with a new batch of text-based shortcuts.

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The latest online service to find itself facing scrutiny from the European Commission is TikTok. The Chinese-owned, video-based social media platform faces a probe from the Commission after an initial investigation into whether the company had breached the Digital Services Act (DSA).

Particular areas interest are TikTok's use of algorithms to surface content, with investigators worried about whether they create a "rabbit hole effect" and encourage addictive behavior. TikTok also faces criticisms for various failures to protect younger users, but there are concerns about the overall transparency of the platform, but especially in relation to advertising.

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Elon Musk's impact at X -- or Twitter as it was when he bought the company -- has broadly been seen as negative. While some have welcomed his maverick approach to managing the social platform, it left many others seeking a new home. Bluesky and Mastodon quickly emerged as viable alternatives, although Meta has attempted to muscle in on the action with Threads.

Each platform has its own set of pros and cons, but a major obstacle for Bluesky is that it remains invite-only. On top of this, it has not been possible for anyone without an account to view posts made by others -- but this is now changing, as is the platform's logo.

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When Elon Musk took over at Twitter and set about implementing sweeping and controversial changes -- including renaming it to X -- there was a surge in rivals vying for attention. The likes of Mastodon and Bluesky dominated, and continue to do so, but there were also newcomers seeking to offer an alternative and a safe refuge for Twitter exiles.

One such option was T2, a social platform set up by two former Twitter employees. T2 recently rebranded to Pebble, but after initially enjoying a period of success the announcement has come that the service is closing down in a matter of days.

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Streaming music service Spotify has announced Jam, a group playlist feature that can be used by up to 32 people. Spotify describes the new social feature as a "personalized, real-time listening session for your group to tune into together".

It is, in many ways, an amalgamation of several existing features of Spotify, such as Blend, personalized playlists and collaborative playlists. All users of Spotify -- free and paying -- are able to contribute to a Jam, but the ability to create them is limited to Premium Subscribers.

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After a period of experimentation, Meta has finally decided to permit users to create multiple Facebook profiles. Each profile -- and you can have up to four -- can have its own connections, and will have its own customized Feed.

Meta suggests that Facebook users could use the new option to keep personal and professional relationships separate, but there are many reasons for wanting to maintain more than one Facebook profile. But while the change to allow multiple profiles is a big one, there are limitations and some things are not changing.

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Since Elon Musk's arrival at Twitter, it has been difficult to keep track of the fast-paced changes. The latest signals from the billionaire owner indicate that even more dramatic changes are afoot -- including ditching the Twitter brand and all bird-related imagery.

In a series of tweets, Musk said "soon we shall bid adieu to the twitter brand and, gradually, all the birds". Indicating that the change could happen very quickly indeed, he added: "If a good enough X logo is posted tonight, we’ll make go live worldwide tomorrow".

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