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App’s ‘secret source’ algorithm reportedly core to operations of parent company, which sources say make a sale highly unlikelyByteDance would prefer to shut down TikTok rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options to fight legislation to ban the platform from app stores in the US, four sources said.The algorithms TikTok relies on for its operations are deemed core to...

Anthony Albanese responds to X owner who criticised Australian authorities demanding videos of a Sydney church stabbing be removedAustralia’s prime minister has labelled X’s owner, Elon Musk, an “arrogant billionaire who thinks he is above the law” as the rift deepens between Australia and the tech platform over the removal of videos of a violent stabbing in a Sydney church.On Monday evening in an...

Owner of X has used social media platform to bash judge in charge of investigations into former presidentThousands of diehard supporters of Brazil’s former president Jair Bolsonaro have hit the streets of Rio to champion their embattled leader and celebrate the new hero of their far-right movement: Elon Musk.The tech billionaire has spent recent weeks using his social network X to bash Bolsonaro’s arch-enemy,...

Cross-party committee urges creation of strategy engage with new platforms that appeal to youngThe government needs a TikTok strategy to help combat misinformation directed at young people, MPs have said.Members of the cross-party culture, media and sport committee said the government needed to adapt to new apps and platforms that appeal to young people who are increasingly turning away from traditional sources of news....

Multibillionaire called for resignation of judge who ordered platform to block far-right usersElon Musk faces a legal investigation in Brazil after becoming embroiled in a public row with a supreme court judge over an order requiring the social network X to take down some far-right accounts.Justice Alexandre de Moraes had issued a court order forcing the site formerly known as Twitter to block several...

The change to Instagram and Threads comes as the parent company also prepares to retire the news tab from Facebook in Australia and the USInstagram users will see less of what Meta deems to be “political” content in their recommendations and feed suggestions unless they opt into it, in a change the company implemented in the past week.The change requires users to delve into...

A bill passed Wednesday by the House requiring TikTok owner ByteDance to sell or face a US ban is most existential threat yetThe House of Representatives passed a bill Wednesday that would require TikTok owner ByteDance to sell the social media platform or face a total ban in the United States.The legislation now moves to the Senate, where its likelihood of passing is uncertain....

Publishers informed on Friday Meta would not enter new deals when current contracts expire and Facebook news tab would shut down in AprilFollow our Australia news live blog for latest updatesGet our morning and afternoon news emails, free app or daily news podcastFacebook and Instagram’s parent company, Meta, has set itself on a collision course with the Albanese government after announcing it will stop...

World’s biggest social media firms challenge state laws blocking them from moderating certain content or banning usersMembers of the United States supreme court expressed skepticism regarding two laws being debated in oral arguments Monday, both of which deal with how social media platforms moderate content and could have broad implications for freedom of speech online.Filed by NetChoice, an association representing the world’s largest social...

Local WhatsApp group started by two mothers concerned about online safety attracts more than 4,000 membersMore than 4,000 parents have joined a group committed to barring young children from having smartphones, as concerns grow about online safety and the impact of social media on mental health.The WhatsApp group Smartphone Free Childhood was created by the former school friends Clare Fernyhough and Daisy Greenwell in...

Ayatollah Ali Khamenei supported Hamas’s 7 October attack on Israel, which Meta said violated its policiesMeta has removed Instagram and Facebook accounts run on behalf of Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, following criticism over his support for Hamas after the group’s 7 October attack on Israel that sparked the months-long war still raging in the Gaza Strip, the company confirmed on Friday.Meta, based...

A mass user protest six months ago over technical tweaks had big downstream effects, and now the ‘front page of the internet’ is changed for everIn June, thousands of Reddit communities plunged into darkness – making their pages inaccessible to the public in a mass protest of corporate policy changes. Users of a social network lambasting it is nothing new; but Reddit’s moderators rebelled...