social media platforms
Inside the Trump SPAC deal taking on Twitter, Disney, CNN and every major tech company
In a blinding flash of humility, TMTG allows that taking on public cloud and fintech infrastructure giants is more a “long-term” goal, not something it intends to get busy on…
Funnel, a no-code tool for marketers to organize disparate data sources, raises $66M in ‘pre-IPO’ round
The world of marketing has become a world of marketing tech. But marketers are not necessarily engineers, so working with the terabytes of data their campaigns produce can be a…
Ex-minister predicts ‘huge battleground’ over UK’s plan to set internet content rules
The former U.K. minster of state for what is now the digital and culture department, DCMS, has warned of the looming battle in parliament over the exact shape of incoming…
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Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen testifies before the Senate
After revealing her identity on Sunday night, Frances Haugen — the whistleblower who leaked controversial Facebook documents to The Wall Street Journal — testified before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation on Tuesday. Haugen’s testimony came after a hearing last week, when Facebook global head of Safety Antigone Davis was questioned about the company’s…
Mark Cuban-backed live entertainment app Fireside launches to creators
Amid a deluge of new creator platforms, a startup called Fireside is launching today with what it believes will be a compelling proposition for professional creators in need of a…
Leak shows Facebook’s business model needs regulating, says MEP
The European Parliament’s lead and shadow rapporteur for a major reboot of the bloc’s digital rulebook have called for an investigation following the Facebook whistleblower leaks. One of the MEPs…
Clubhouse adds clips, replays for asynchronous listening, better search and spatial audio for Android
Clubhouse announced today that it is unveiling four new features: Clips, Replay, Universal Search and spatial audio for Android (which already exists on iOS). All of these features will launch…
YouTube will now ban content with vaccine misinformation
YouTube expanded its medical misinformation policies today to include new guidelines that ban vaccine misinformation. The Google-owned video platform had previously banned over 1 million videos spreading dangerous COVID-19 misinformation.…
Gamitee becomes Joyned as it secures $4M for social shopping platform
Joyned turns retailer websites into mini social media platforms where shoppers can show friends their potential purchases and shop together without leaving the site.
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Do you need another app to discover beautiful places when you travel?
In the summer of 2019, Timilehin Ajiboye became intrigued with the idea of building a travel app after conversations with a circle of friends. One friend reached out to Ajiboye asking if he knew of any platform where she could find new, aesthetically pleasing places to dine in, visit and take pictures. And then, during a…
Facebook knows Instagram harms teens. Now, its plan to open the app to kids looks worse than ever
Facebook is in the hot seat again. The Wall Street Journal published a powerful multi-part series on the company this week, drawing from internal documents on everything from the company’s…
Hiring processes need to be about letting people put their best foot forward, whether that is in writing or on video.
LinkedIn launches a $25M fund for creators, will test Clubhouse-style audio feature in coming weeks
When LinkedIn first launched Stories format, and later expanded its tools for creators earlier this year, one noticeable detail was that the Microsoft-owned network for professionals hadn’t built any kind of…
Going after social commerce for sportspeople, Millions gets $10M
Millions.co, a social commerce platform geared toward professional and semi-professional athletes wanting help to monetize their fanbase by selling merch and/or on-demand video, has grabbed $10 million in funding led…
Pancake aims to make customers flip for its virtual home design platform
Pancake is democratizing interior design services to make it accessible to everyone.
UK now expects compliance with children’s privacy design code
In the U.K., a 12-month grace period for compliance with a design code aimed at protecting children online expires today — meaning app makers offering digital services in the market…
Suing your way to the stars
Hello friends, and welcome back to Week in Review! I’m back from a very fun and rehabilitative couple weeks away from my phone, my Twitter account and the news cycle.…
Social platforms wrestle with what to do about the Taliban
With the hasty U.S. military withdrawal from Afghanistan underway after two decades occupying the country, social media platforms have a complex new set of policy decisions to make. The Taliban…
WhatsApp and other social media platforms restricted in Zambia amidst ongoing elections
Several users from Zambia have taken to Twitter informing the general public that WhatsApp has been restricted in the country amidst ongoing general elections today. The president and parliamentary elections…
Facebook cuts off NYU researcher access, prompting rebuke from lawmakers
Facebook shut down accounts belonging to two academic researchers late Tuesday, cutting off their ability to study political ads and misinformation on the world’s biggest social network. The company accused…
Discord now lets you customize your user profile on its apps
For mobile users, Discord is adding one new feature that you’d find on a more traditional social app. The company rolled out an option for users to customize their profiles…
If you’ve started using Snapchat more regularly this year, you’re not alone. At yesterday’s Q2 earnings call, Snap CEO Evan Spiegel announced that the platform grew both revenue and daily…
Democratic bill would suspend Section 230 protections when social networks boost anti-vax conspiracies
Two Democratic senators introduced a bill Thursday that would strip away the liability shield that social media platforms hold dear when those companies boost anti-vaccine conspiracies and other kinds of…
This Week in Apps: Android ad prices jump, TikTok resumes, Google Play’s antitrust lawsuit
Welcome back to This Week in Apps, the weekly TechCrunch series that recaps the latest in mobile OS news, mobile applications and the overall app economy. The app industry continues to grow, with…
Trump’s new lawsuits against social media companies are going nowhere fast
Trump’s spicy trio of lawsuits against the social media platforms that he believes wrongfully banned him have succeeded in showering the former president with a flurry of media attention, but…
UK tells messaging apps not to use E2E encryption for kids’ accounts
For a glimpse of the security and privacy dystopia the UK government has in store for its highly regulated ‘British Internet’, look no further than guidance put out by the…
Amazon and Google face UK CMA probe over fake reviews
The UK’s competition watchdog, the CMA, has opened another investigation into Big Tech — this one targeted at Amazon and Google over how well they handle (or, well, don’t) fake…
Biden admin will share more info with online platforms on ‘front lines’ of domestic terror fight
The Biden administration is outlining new plans to combat domestic terrorism in light of the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol and social media companies have their own part…
TikTok called out for lack of ads transparency and for failing to police political payola
TikTok announced a ban on political advertising all the way back in 2019. So you’d be forgiven for thinking the ugly problem of democracy-denting political disinformation doesn’t apply inside its…
Twitter to begin pilot testing Fleet ads starting today
Ads are coming to Twitter’s version of Stories, known as Fleets. The company announced today it will began pilot testing Fleet ads in the U.S., which will bring full-screen, vertical…
