Welcome to Social Media Buzz Weekly, your weekly bulletin of the latest social media updates. With the social media landscape evolving with each passing day, it can be challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments. Well, not anymore, as we have taken it upon ourselves to keep you abreast of every happening in the social media space.
So, without any further ado, let’s look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. Meta Could Look to Offer UK Users an Ad-Free Subscription to its Apps
Meta may soon look to expand its ad-free subscription offering to the U.K., after settling with an individual user who objected to her data being used for ad targeting in the app.
In the original case, brought against Meta back in 2022, U.K. human rights campaigner Tanya O’Carroll argued that she has a legal right to object to the use of her personal data for direct marketing, as per U.K. consumer laws. Meta argued that its targeted ads don’t qualify as direct marketing, but it’s now reached a settlement agreement, which will ensure that O’Carroll herself will not have her data used by Meta for ad targeting purposes. And in order to mitigate any similar cases in future, Meta could look to give U.K. users the right to opt out, for a fee, as it does in the EU.
2. Meta Continues To Integrate AI Bot Profiles Into Its Apps
Facebook Messenger has now enabled some users to access its own “AI Studio”, in which you can find AI characters to converse with.
Within the AI studio, which you can access on both desktop and mobile, you’ll also be able to manage your own AI characters that you’ve created for chats. WhatsApp is also integrating the same, with its own AI Studio link. That’ll enable more people to find AI bots to talk to, whenever they like.
3. Meta, X and Other Tech Companies Look To Trump Administration to Combat Australian Regulatory Charges
Meta was among a range of tech companies, including Google, Apple, and X, which co-signed a request for the U.S. Government to step in to help them push back against what they’ve labeled “discriminatory” Australian media laws that force them to pay local news providers.
Back in 2021, the Australian government implemented its “News Media Bargaining Code” which effectively forces social apps and search engines to pay local publishers for any use of their content, including links to their sites. The bill aims to address the impact that digital platforms have had on the ad industry, and subsequent publisher revenues, by redistributing some of the money raked in by the big apps to local providers. Both Google and Meta have long opposed the bill, with Meta even banning Australian news outlets from its apps for a short time, before the government negotiated a truce.
4. Meta Launches AI Chatbot to EU Users
Meta has announced the initial launch of its Meta AI chatbot to EU users.
European users of Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp will see the Meta AI icon appearing in their search options, while users will also be able to call on @MetaAI in their chats for easy access. Meta’s also launching the same to U.K. users. The main variance, however, is that Meta’s AI tools are not being trained on EU user data, in compliance with the currently under review EU regulations.
5. Meta To Maintain Reliance on Third-Party Fact Checking for Upcoming Australian Election
Meta has announced it will continue its fact-checking program in Australia ahead of the upcoming federal election.
It comes after the tech giant announced it would end third-party fact-checking across its platforms earlier this year. Meta also said it will work with the Australian Associated Press and the Australian Electoral Commission on election-related content. A federal election must be held by 17 May. Meta first contracted third-party fact-checkers in 2016 to identify “hoaxes” and “false claims” across its platforms. The initiative involved more than 90 organisations across dozens of countries.
6. TikTok Launches AMBER Alerts to US Users
TikTok has announced an expanded launch of its AMBER Alerts system in the U.S., which will highlight missing kids in your local area within the app.
With TikTok’s AMBER Alerts, users will be shown details of the missing child within their main feed, helping to highlight cases, and broaden awareness of such cases. The expanded coverage of such cases will help to raise awareness, and get more information to the public. In addition to this, TikTok is also donating advertising credits to help further amplify NCMEC’s messaging, via its official TikTok account.
7. Senators Urge Trump to Seek Authority From Congress for TikTok Sale Extension
Three Democratic senators have urged the White House to seek authority from Congress to extend a deadline for China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok to safeguard the popular video sharing app from a potential ban.
US President Donald Trump in January unilaterally extended the sale deadline from January 19 to April 5 by postponing enforcement of a law passed last year that requires ByteDance to sell a majority stake to US owners or face a ban on the app in the United States. Trump said last month that he could further extend that deadline to give himself time to shepherd a deal.
8. Snapchat Adds AR Effects To Celebrate the ‘Minecraft’ Movie
Snapchat has introduced a collection of Augmented Reality (AR) Lenses to coincide with the release of the Minecraft movie, offering fans a chance to interact with their favorite pixelated world in creative and immersive ways.
Snapchat has added four different types of AR Lenses to coincide with the movie’s launch. All of these filters will be available via the Minecraft Movie profile in the app, and within the Lens carousel.
9. X Secures $1B in New Funding via New Equity Raise
Elon Musk’s social media platform X has raised nearly $1 billion in new equity, achieving a valuation of approximately $32 billion.
This represents a recovery from previous valuation drops, though it remains below the original $44 billion acquisition price from 2022. The capital raise comes amid signs of financial revival, with X posting approximately $1.4 billion in adjusted profit for 2024. The $32 billion equity valuation and $12.5 billion in debt maintain X’s enterprise value at the original $44 billion acquisition price, marking a financial comeback. However, this recovery needs closer examination.
10. X Now Enables You To Edit Elements of Images With Grok
Grok AI 3 is now letting users edit AI generated images using text prompts and also extend your content search sources for more credible data.
Grok AI 3 version is available for free to X users and even those trying out the standalone Grok app. The platform owned by Elon Musk is now adding two new features that includes AI image editing for users. Grok AI goes up against ChatGPT and Gemini AI so adding new tools is crucial for its demand and interest compared to the other platforms. Grok AI now offers a deeper search feature which is the extended version of its regular deep search.
11. X Takes on Indian Authorities Over Censorship Requests
X has launched legal action against the Indian government over its use of expanded censorship powers to request removals of posts from X, and other social platforms.
Over the past few years, Indian officials have repeatedly called on the X team to remove content in order to quell anti-government sentiment, including the suppression of accounts related to the farmers’ protests in 2024, and the removal of a BBC documentary in 2023 that was critical of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The X team has complied with these requests, though it has noted that it disagrees with such under its freedom of speech ethos.
12. X Suspends Accounts in Turkey After Government Removal Requests
Elon Musk’s X continues to take an uneven approach to government removal requests, with the platform suspending several accounts belonging to opposition figures in Turkey, as the Turkish government looks to quell unrest.
The recent arrest of Istanbul Mayor Ekrem İmamoğlu, who’s considered to be the main political rival of Turkish President Tayyip Erdoğan’s, has sparked a range of protest actions across the nation, with the Turkish government now looking to quell the unrest by reducing the capacity for protesters to amplify their messaging. X’s compliance with the Turkish government’s request is no big surprise, given that X has previously acted on similar requests from Turkish officials.
13. LinkedIn Shares Top Job Skills on the Rise
LinkedIn has revealed the top professional skills on the rise, based on LinkedIn member and job listing data, in a new report which serves as an expansion of its annual Work Change report.
LinkedIn’s “Skills on the Rise” overview looks at the top rising skills in 15 different sectors, along with an overall listing of the key skills that are getting more attention, based on which LinkedIn users are adding to their profiles, and which skills are listed in LinkedIn job ads. AI development is a big focus, among both members and businesses, with “AI literacy”, “Process optimization” and “LLM Development” making the top ten. Though LinkedIn has also included a note to clarify that not all AI skills are equal.
14. LinkedIn Adds Calendly Integration for Profile CTA Buttons
LinkedIn has launched a new integration with Calendly that will enable easy meeting registrations via your LinkedIn profile.
With the new Calendly partnership, Premium users can add a custom “Book and Appointment” button to their LinkedIn profile, which will then direct users to your Calendly schedule, where they can select an available time. That could make it a lot easier to generate leads from LinkedIn, by enabling users who’ve visited your profile to immediately lock in a time to chat.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next week with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!
If you want to read more on the latest developments taking place in the social media space, take a look at ClickInsights’ Social Media Buzz, wherein we bring to you monthly reports on everything going on in social media, ranging from platform updates to policy changes that influence the way we market.
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