Consumers>Social Media

Traffic app Waze is asking UK users to tell it which petrol stations have fuel available, amid the UK's shortage of petrol at the pump. Users of the app are receiving push notifications asking them to "help your…

Plans to make an "Instagram experience" for under-13s, dubbed Instagram Kids, have been paused. Facebook would use the time to listen to "parents, experts, policymakers and regulators", Instagram head Adam Mosseri wrote. It…

This week, Facebook has faced a series of accusations about its internal workings, based on revelations in the Wall Street Journal and elsewhere. Much of the information comes from Facebook's own internal documents,…

Apple threatened to remove Facebook's products from its App Store, after the BBC found domestic "slaves" for sale on apps, including Instagram, in 2019. The threat was revealed in the Wall Street Journal's (WSJ)…

Facebook-owned Instagram has been criticised for keeping secret its internal research into the effect social media had on teenager users. According to the Wall Street Journal, its studies showed teenagers blamed…

Australian graphic design business Canva has become one of the world's biggest privately-owned companies after being valued at $40bn (£29bn). The online design platform said it had grown during the pandemic as more…

TikTok is under investigation by The Irish Data Protection Commission (DPC) - its lead regulator in the EU - over two privacy-related issues. The watchdog is looking into its processing of children's personal data, and…

Twitter has announced a new feature allowing accounts to self-identify as bots, by adding a label to their profile. Twitter said the update was based on research that found that people wanted more context about…

Who would want to be a supermodel? They live in a seemingly glamorous world of gorgeous clothes, first-class travel, other beautiful people, and earn millions of dollars. Yet, like the rest of us mere mortals, they…

Apple has delayed plans to roll out detection technology which would have scanned US users' iPhones in search of child sexual abuse material. It follows widespread criticism from privacy groups and others, worried that…

Twitter is testing new changes to how photos and videos appear on its apps, closer to how images appear on other services such as Instagram. The new feature will expand visual media embedded in tweets to fill the whole width of a…

Encrypted-email company ProtonMail has faced criticism after handing over user details to the authorities. The Swiss company sells itself on its privacy features, promising to let uses "take control" of their personal…

App users in the UK and US are spending more time on TikTok than on YouTube, a new report suggests. Data from app monitoring firm App Annie indicates that average time per user spent on the apps is higher for TikTok,…

Facebook users who watched a newspaper video featuring black men were asked if they wanted to "keep seeing videos about primates" by an artificial-intelligence recommendation system. Facebook told BBC News it "was…

Twitter is launching a feature that it hopes will help crack down on abuse and trolling, both of which have become huge issues for the platform. Safety Mode will flag accounts using hateful remarks, or those bombarding people with…

Apple will for the first time allow apps like Netflix and Spotify to link to a website where users can sign up and manage new and existing accounts. Apple says the change to what it calls "reader apps" will apply globally from…

WhatsApp has been fined €225m (£193m) by Ireland's data watchdog for breaching privacy regulations. It is the largest fine ever from the Irish Data Protection Commission, and the second-highest under EU GDPR rules.…

We are all familiar with stories about computers and smartphones being hacked. Nowadays if a device is connected to the internet, then cybercriminals will eventually attack it. But did you know that online gaming has now become a gateway…

Fraudsters are increasingly using WhatsApp to prey on their victims. A new message offering free gifts to WhatsApp users has been circulating on the social messaging platform recently, causing alarm among users. The latest tactic Fraudsters…

Many of us now refuse to answer telephone calls from an unknown number, for fear that it could be a scam. And we dread receiving a text message, purportedly from our bank or a delivery firm, again due to concerns that it might be…

Social media has a new type of influencer. However, instead of promoting clothes, or fancy lifestyle products, these new influencers are promoting fraud. They flash large sums of money, cover their faces, and some even provide tips on how…

Twitter is introducing a way to report posts as "misleading" for the first time. Many of the large social media networks have been accused of not doing enough to fight the spread of disinformation during the Covid pandemic and US…

On social media, there's a new type of influencer. But instead of promoting clothing lines and lifestyle products, they promote fraud. They flash stacks of cash, hide their faces, and some even lure new recruits by selling guides…

Facebook could have to sell Giphy, a search engine for Gifs, which it bought for a reported $400m (£289m) last year. The Competition and Markets Authority provisionally found Facebook owning Giphy "could lead it to deny other…

Cesar David Gonzalez does a bit of everything, from house painting to carpentry. The self-employed 56-year-old lives in the San Fernando Valley, one of the hottest parts of Los Angeles. He works six or seven days a week, even when…

Instagram's owner Facebook has reversed a ban on a poster for Spanish director Pedro Almodovar's new film, showing a nipple producing a drop of milk. Javier Jaen, who designed the advert for Madres Paralelas (Parallel Mothers), had…

A Twitter image-cropping algorithm prefers to show faces that are slimmer, younger and with lighter skin, a researcher has found. Bogdan Kulynyc won $3,500 (£2,530) in a Twitter-organised contest to find biases in its cropping…

An Instagram post by TV star Lauren Goodger has been banned because she didn't clearly mark it as an advert. Lauren, 34, had been paid for the post, which promoted a foreign exchange - or forex - trading tips service.…

At first the video seems to be just an ordinary guy in a tracksuit, miming a rap song on his phone. But then British swimmer Adam Peaty whips out his Olympic gold medal. And the crowd, in the comments section, goes wild.…

WhatsApp is rolling out a feature that allows users to have photos or videos vanish after they are seen. After the recipient opens the image for the first time, "view once" deletes it, without saving it to a phone. WhatsApp…