Facebook’s latest experimental app lets you document your hobbies
Facebook has released a new, experimental app called Hobbi, which allows users to document and keep tabs on the progress of their favorite hobbies and projects.
What Mike Bloomberg’s sponsored political memes mean for future elections
Democratic presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg's Meme2020 partnership may change how campaigns are run long after 2020.
How to delete your Facebook account
Here's how to deactivate or delete your Facebook account to protect your privacy.
Digital Trends Live: MWC update, Galaxy Unpacked recap, custom emojis, and more
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, we discuss the top stories in tech, including an update on the Mobile World Conference, and a Samsung Galaxy recap.
YouTube copies Twitch with feature that lets you tip your favorite stars $2
Viewers can now clap at their favorite YouTube stars, added as another way for creators to earn money through the Google-owned video platform.
Facebook hires Reuters to fact-check posts, but politicians can still lie in ads
Facebook is trying to fight fake news and misinformation on its platform by hiring Reuters to fact-check, but it’s still not fact-checking political ads.
Facebook delays the launch of its dating app in Europe over privacy concerns
The Data Protection Commission (DPC), an independent consumer protection agency, announced it was “very concerned” about Facebook Dating.
Facebook removes some Russian, Iranian accounts for spreading fake memes
Facebook removed fake accounts, pages, and groups originating from Russia, Iran, Vietnam, and Myanmar because of what it calls coordinated inauthentic behavior.
WhatsApp follows Facebook and YouTube to over 2 billion monthly users
Facebook-owned messaging app WhatsApp announced in a blog post that its 11-year-old app now hosts over 2 billion monthly users -- up from 1.5 billion in 2017.
Ding-dong ditch: Arlo is offering $50 trade-in value for video doorbells
Arlo is taking advantage of the controversy surrounding Ring to offer $50 credit towards anyone that trades in a qualifying video doorbell, including Ring devices.
Facebook’s Twitter account taken over by hacker group OurMine
OurMine, a group known for hacking the accounts of celebrities, NFL players, and tech CEOs, took over Facebook's Twitter account briefly on Friday afternoon.
Twitter was broken for about an hour, leaving people unable to tweet
Twitter went offline for thousands of users Friday afternoon, leaving users unable to tweet for about an hour
Instagram may finally let influencers make money off their IGTV videos
Instagram may finally share a piece of its $20 billion ad revenue with creators. The social network is found to be testing a monetization platform for IGTV.
More Americans are using online dating than ever before, but it still sucks
Three in ten Americans have used a dating app. But many still find the process frustrating, according to a new Pew Research Poll.
Celebrities are ditching social media and texting with fans directly instead
The new Community app seeks to connect you with celebrities by letting you text directly with the rich and famous, instead of having to rely on social media.
Instagram now lets you see why the same accounts keep appearing in your feed
Instagram users can now see the accounts they interact with the most, and least using a new tool in the app. The feature will begin rolling out in a few days.
Is Clearview AI’s facial recognition legal? We need to figure it out soon
No one can figure out if what Clearview AI is doing with people's personal data is legal, and experts say we need to do better regarding facial recognition.
WhatsApp fixes bug that could have allowed hackers to read your desktop files
WhatsApp patched a security loophole in its desktop apps last month that could have potentially allowed hackers to access your computer’s local files.
Instagram appears to be raking in even more ad cash than YouTube
If you thought YouTube's 2019 ad revenue of $15 billion was a lot, then how about Instagram? Sources claiming to have knowledge of the matter said recently that the popular photo app generated around $20 billion last year. In 2018, Facebook reportedly told Instagram to double the number of ads its shows.
Twitter moves to ban deepfakes that ’cause harm’ ahead of 2020 election
Twitter announced a new policy about manipulated media — namely deepfakes. Twitter’s new policy states that you may not “deceptively share synthetic or manipulated media that are likely to cause harm.”
Facebook teaches us all how web privacy works with Messenger Kids
Facebook Messenger Kids wants to help young users understand online privacy through in-app education. The in-app pop-up joins additional tools for the kids messaging app, including more parental controls and the ability for parents to download their child's data.
Twitter says state-backed attackers may have nabbed phone numbers
Twitter recently shut down a large network of fake accounts that may have been attempting to match a huge number of generated phone numbers to other accounts.
The time you lost watching YouTube ads last year netted Google $15 billion
Google’s parent company, Alphabet, revealed YouTube’s revenue from advertising: $15 billion. That's just under 10 percent of Alphabet’s total revenue for 2019.
Elon Musk says Bitcoin scammers impersonating him on Twitter are ‘not cool’
For more than a year, bots and trolls have used Twitter to scam cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin, and used Elon Musk’s name to do it. Musk called out the scammers.
Zuckerberg spins Facebook’s indifference to truth as a commitment to ‘freedom’
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has taken a defiant stand against his critics, saying the site would stand up for free expression, even if it pissed people off. Earlier this year, Facebook announced that it would not ban political ads that lie to voters, in what was seen as an abdication of responsibility.
WhatsApp contains ‘dangerous’ and deliberate backdoors, claims Telegram founder
Telegram Messenger’s founder, Pavel Durov has called using WhatsApp “dangerous”. The 35-year-old has accused WhatsApp of deflecting blame and claimed that WhatsApp’s security bugs were in fact, intentionally planted backdoors to comply with and appease local enforcement agencies.
After years of scandals, Facebook is finally starting to feel the fallout
After a mixed earnings report and huge drop in share price, it looks like Facebook’s rocky past might finally be catching up to the social network in real ways.
Facebook forced to pay $550 million settlement over facial recognition lawsuit
Facebook has to pay Illinois members as part of a settlement. The company violated Illinois biometric privacy laws in its photo tagging using facial recognition.
Emoji 13.0 adds polar bears, pickup trucks, bubble tea, and gender-neutral Santa
Get ready for a slew of new emoji, from more gender-neutral options to icons like flip flops and polar bears. Announced on January 29, Emoji 13.0 brings more than 60 new emoji coming out in 2020. The update brings 55 gender and skin tone variants, along with entirely new symbols.
Google’s new experimental DIY video app is like TikTok and Pinterest had a baby
Meet Tangi, Google's experimental home for DIY videos, tutorials, and hacks that feels like a mix between TikTok and Pinterest. The new social network houses one-minute-or-less videos on art, fashion, cooking, DIY and more. Users can like videos to save them, or comment and share.
Digital Trends Live: Facebook’s off-activity tool, Super Bowl players talk tech
On this episode of Digital Trends Live, hosts Greg Nibler and Luke Larsen dive into the biggest trending tech topics of the day, including Facebook’s “Off-Facebook Activity” tool, Ring’s data sent to third parties, the UK allows Huawei 5G, Atari’s video game-themed hotels, and more.
The Off-Facebook Activity tool lets you take control of your shared data
Facebook is hoping to be more transparent about your data and activity by expanding a new privacy feature to the U.S. and the rest of the world. The Off-Facebook Activity tool allows users to see and control their personal data that other apps and websites share with the social network.
Pinterest now lets you try on your pins in augmented reality
Starting with lipstick, Pinterest's new Try On tool uses augmented reality to let you compare looks. The tool is part of Pinterest Lens, the same tool that allows users to search by using a photo instead of text. Pinterest says the tool won't blur out skin like most beauty filters in selfie apps.
NFL: Multiple teams’ social media accounts targeted by hackers
Hackers targeted the social media accounts of 15 NFL teams on Sunday and Monday. Those responsible swapped out the accounts’ profile pictures and headers or deleted them entirely. They also posted ads for their own cybersecurity services, as well as other more mischievous messages announcing player sales.