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Meta has announced all Facebook and Messenger chats will be automatically encrypted. While users have been able to opt in to encrypted messages for years, it will now become the default position, which means messages and calls protected by end-to-end-encryption (E2EE) can only be read by the sender and recipient. There has been some backlash to the decision from critics including the police and UK government, who have claimed this move will make it more difficult to detect child sexual abuse on the platforms. The National Crime Agency’s director general for threats James Babbage said: “It is h…

Instagram and Facebook will no longer carry cross-compatible messaging. From the middle of December, the two Meta owned social media platform’s respective messaging services won’t be able to connect with cross-platform chats, while existing conversations between the platforms will become ‘read only’. A Meta spokesperson told The Verge: “A few years ago, we introduced a new Messenger experience in Instagram DMs which enabled people to message and call a FB account (Messenger) from an Instagram account and vice versa. “Starting in mid-December, we will begin removing this feature. “However, peop…

Olivia Rodrigo has a fake Instagram account which she uses to “stalk crushes”. The 20-year-old pop star has opened up about her love of social media admitting she uses an account under another name so she can keep an eye on certain people while remaining anonymous. She told The Face magazine: “I do [have a fake Instagram] but nothing’s on it,’ she admitted. ‘I just use it to stalk my crushes.” Olivia added that she often spends hours finding out information using social media platforms, confessing: “I’m so good at finding stuff out about people on social media,’ she added. ‘It’s one of my favo…

Britney Spears has posed fully nude on Instagram. The 41-year-old pop star shared a raunchy photo on her account on Thursday (26.10.23), in which she is standing on a beach in her birthday suit, with her bare butt on display as she looks over her shoulder at the camera, holding her arms up over her chest. She didn’t caption the post and has disabled comments, but it has already amassed over 894,000 likes. The photo was followed hours later by another post, this time featuring the ‘Gimme More’ singer dancing provocatively at home in a cropped top, hot pants and white boots, with a Christmas tre…

Britney Spears briefly deactivated her Instagram account ahead of the release of her memoir ‘The Woman in Me’. The ‘Toxic’ singer, 41, is bringing out the book on 24 October, but it has been making headlines with its revelations – including that she aborted Justin Timberlake’s baby – after copies were accidentally put on sale early in Mexico. Before removing, and then restoring, her Instagram over the weekend, she posted a long message expressing her worries over the public’s reactions to her autobiography. Britney posted on X and her Instagram: “I don’t like the headlines I am reading. “That’…

Millie Bobby Brown often cries over Instagram beauty pictures because she fears she will never look as perfect as the people she sees online. The 19-year-old ‘Stranger Things’ star has admitted she struggles with her self-confidence and says she always gets upset if she is having a bad skin day and then goes on social media only to see other women looking totally flawless. She told Glamour magazine: “I have a huge pimple on my face. And I’m going to go on Instagram, and I’m going to see five different girls that look beautiful! Flawless! Stunning! And, okay, slay … [I end up] sobbing, becaus…

Selena Gomez’s break-up with Justin Bieber led to her quitting social media. The ‘Only Murders in the Building’ actress’ on/off romance with the ‘Yummy’ hitmaker finally ended after eight years in 2018 and shortly afterwards, he was confirmed to be dating now-wife Hailey Baldwin, and the 31-year-old star has admitted her heartbreak was one of the deciding factors in her deciding to step away from Instagram. Speaking to Fast Company, Selena – who only returned to the platform over the last year – said: “I had just gotten my heart broken. I didn’t need to see what everyone was doing. “Then there…

Brandi Glanville has claimed being so stressed from the “threat of a bad edit” of ‘Real Housewives: Ultimate Girls Trip’ is “partly” why she collapsed and was rushed to hospital. The 50-year-old reality revealed on Sunday (01.10.23) that one of her sons had to call 911 after she collapsed. She wrote on X – formerly Twitter – that: “I collapsed at home this am and my SON had to call 911 for help!” The former ‘Real Housewives of Beverly Hills’ star – who has Mason Edward, 20, and Jake Austin, 16, with ex-husband Eddie Cibrian – added: “You guys have no idea the amount of stress I’m dealing with….

Britney Spears has deleted her Instagram account again. The ‘Toxic’ singer – who briefly left the platform in January – has been a prolific user of the platform since her conservatorship ended almost two years ago, but after posting to seemingly criticise fans for approaching her in public, she took down the post and then later deactivated her account entirely. Sharing a photo of herself in her underwear, the 41-year-old star’s last post had read: “When people say everywhere I go … ‘we missed you we missed you’ I’m like so enthralled that I’m so relatable you can speak to me when when you’re n…

Britney Spears has reportedly turned down a string of lucrative Instagram deals. The 41-year-old pop superstar has more than 40 million followers on the photo-sharing app but is said to have declined “big money ” from companies eager for her to promote their products, according to TMZ. The ‘…Baby One More Time’ singer could potentially match the high earnings of fellow A-Listers like reality superstar Kim Kardashian – who is thought to rake in $1 million per single endorsement post – or Goop founder Gwyneth Paltrow, who is thought to take home $100,000 for a sponsored post. But, the outlet w…

Sam Asghari has unfollowed Britney Spears on Instagram. The 29-year-old actor tied the knot with pop superstar Britney, 41, in June 2022 but filed for divorce after just over a year of marriage and now, according to UsWeekly, both accounts show that he is no longer one of her 42 million followers. The ‘…Baby One More Time’ hitmaker regained control of her multimillion-dollar fortune and other aspects of her life when a conservatorship that had been governed by her family was terminated in 2021 but she has since become estranged from her parents and siblings and while Britney is yet to acknow…

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex could reportedly make $1 million per post just like the Kardashians if she returns to Instagram, according to a financial expert. The former actress, 42, is said to have the @meghan handle, which has already amassed 820,000 followers despite the fact she has never actually posted anything on the feed, and entrepreneur Eric Schiffer has now backed reports from last week she could make a fortune on the feed from brand deals. He told the Daily Mail: “I would expect her to quickly become one of the most followed accounts on Instagram. “You have celebrities like the Kardas…

Meghan, Duchess of Sussex could reportedly make $1 million per post if she returns to Instagram. The former actress, 42, is said to have the @meghan handle, which already has 2,420 followers, despite the fact she has never actually posted on the account, and it’s now said she is on the verge of getting ready to “re-launch” herself on the platform. A source told The Mail on Sunday: “Everyone in Hollywood is talking about the re-launch being imminent. Meghan has never made any secret of the fact she wants to return to Instagram.” Another insider added the dormant @meghan account – which is decor…

Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Facebook of putting “profits ahead of people’s safety”. He hit out after the firm blocked news amid the devastating wildfires sweeping the nation’s Northwest Territories and British Columbia after Canadian law forcing it to share profit with news outlets. Wildfire evacuees and workers have said the ban has impacted their ability to share potentially life-saving news with each other and Mr Trudeau blasted during a TV press conference on Monday (21.08.23): “It is so inconceivable that a company like Facebook is choosing to put corporate profits …

Justin Trudeau has accused Facebook of putting “profits ahead of people’s safety” amid Canada’s devastating wildfires. The Canadian Prime Minister has hit out at the social media platform after it banned news on Facebook in response to a Canadian law that forces the company to share profit with news outlets. Trudeau, 51, has blasted Facebook, accusing the company of “putting corporate profits” ahead of safety. During a news conference, the prime minister said: “It is so inconceivable that a company like Facebook is choosing to put corporate profits ahead of ensuring that local news organisatio…

Britney Spears says she “couldn’t take the pain anymore” in her first statement since her split with Sam Asghari. Sam, 29, recently filed for divorce from the 41-year-old popstar after 14 months of marriage and Britney insisted she won’t be revealing the details of their split but is happy that she no longer has to pretend everything is perfect. She wrote on Instagram: “As everyone knows, Hesam and I are no longer together … 6 years is a long time to be with someone so, I’m a little shocked but … I’m not here to explain why because its honestly nobody’s business !!!” “But, I couldn’t take the …

John Barrowman’s elderly mother Marion is in intensive care. The 59-year-old actor has pulled out of GeekdCon in Louisiana this weekend in order to stay by his mother’s side as she battles her illness. He shared a video on Twitter, where he explained: “Hey everybody this is a message to everyone who is heading to Shreeveport Louisiana for GeekdCon. “Unfortunately I’m gonna have to cancel this weekend my mother is still in intensive care, and I feel it’s only appropriate that I’m here with her and my dad and the rest of the family. “So I hope you understand, go and have a great time there’s lot…

Elon Musk has joked he’s going to start posting nudes on X. The 52-year-old business magnate bought the social media platform – which was formerly known as Twitter – last year in a deal thought to be worth $44 billion and has now teased followers that he could be posting NSFW content on the microblogging site. Alongside a meme of a cat sitting on a stove, he joked: “I’m running out of memes. Nudes starting tomorrow.” In terms of reactions, the post received more than half a million ‘likes’, 32,000 reposts as well as over 4,000 bookmarks and was quoted by other users of the site thousands of ti…

Lil Tay’s former manager declared he doesn’t believe her Instagram was hacked – hours before her following on the platform shot up by 300,000. The rapper and influencer, 14, was reported dead on Wednesday (09.08.23) when a post on her feed said she had passed away, but her ex-manager Harry Tsang, 32, has since spoken out to brand the post a “fake” stunt. He told the New York Post after Lil Tay confirmed on Thursday (10.08.23) she was alive and said she had been left “heartbroken” by the death message: “I think it was fake. I don’t believe anything that they say about the hacking.” But he added…

There’s no evidence that using Facebook triggers psychological harm, according to a new study. The Oxford Internet Institute has looked at how wellbeing changed in 72 countries as use of Facebook grew – but contrary to common belief, there’s no tangible evidence that it’s psychologically harmful. Professor Andrew Przybylski, of the Oxford Internet Institute, told the BBC: “It’s commonly thought that this is a bad thing for wellbeing. And the data that we put together, and the data that we analysed didn’t show that that was the case.” Despite this, the professor conceded that more data is neede…

Bella Hadid is being sued over an Instagram post. The 26-year-old supermodel is being taken to court by a company called Chosen Figure LLC according to documents obtained by RadarOnline.com, because she allegedly posted a professional photo taken by an artist without permission, The outlet reported that the court documents described the snapper as a “professional photographer” who has spent “significant time and money in building” their portfolio and claims that in posting the copyrighted image, Bella – who has almost 60 million followers on the social media platform and is thought to earn up …

Kanye West is back on Twitter. The 46-year-old rap star was banned from the microblogging website in October 2022 – which has since been rebranded as X – over a series of tweets he posted in which he said he was planning to go “death con [sic] 3 on Jewish people”. He was later reinistated but banned once again in December when he shared an image of what appeared to be a mix of the Star of David and a Swastika. As of Monday (31.07.23) the gold-verified account of @kanyewest is up and running again. The ‘DONDA’ rapper is yet to post anything new on his profile and the latest visible tweet is dat…

Twitter’s new handle X has been banned in Indonesia. The social media platform’s new owner Elon Musk has been busy rebranding the company with a new name – X – but the plan appears to have hit problems in Indonesia after the government blocked the use of the site X.com over fears it had previously been linked to online pornography and gambling – which are both restricted in the Muslim-majority country. According to Al Jazeera, officials at Indonesia’s Ministry of Communication and Informatics said the name has previously been used by sites that “did not adhere to the country’s laws against neg…

Elon Musk thinks the Twitter name “does not make sense”. The billionaire businessman acquired the micro-blogging platform for $44 billion in 2022, and Elon recently announced a rebranding of the site. Elon, 52, explained on the platform: “Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app. This is not simply a company renaming itself, but doing the same thing. “The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like birds tweeting – but now you can post almost anything, including several hours o…

Elon Musk thinks the Twitter name “does not make sense”. The billionaire businessman acquired the micro-blogging platform for $44 billion in 2022, and Elon recently announced a rebranding of the site. Elon, 52, explained on the platform: “Twitter was acquired by X Corp both to ensure freedom of speech and as an accelerant for X, the everything app. This is not simply a company renaming itself, but doing the same thing. “The Twitter name made sense when it was just 140 character messages going back and forth – like birds tweeting – but now you can post almost anything, including several hours o…

Emily Blunt admits “lurking on Instagram” always makes her feel “terrible”. ‘The Devil Wears Prada’ star doesn’t have an official social media presence but she’s confessed to browsing through picture-sharing feeds occasionally even though it doesn’t make her feel good. In an interview with the Guardian newspaper, she explained: “I have been prone to getting occasionally pulled into lurking on Instagram, and it just makes you feel terrible. I don’t feel good after doing it. I don’t feel like I’ve done anything beneficial to myself.” During the chat, Emily, 40, also touches on another technology…

Twitter’s original version of TweetDeck is back up and running, days after it was made a paid-for feature. TweetDeck’s new version, which also uses Twitter’s API, experienced a temporary outage last week after Twitter temporarily limited the number of tweets users could read. Chairman Elon Musk announced on July 3 that the dashboard application for the management of Twitter accounts – which had been “improved” – would only be available to Verified users in 30 days. A tweet from the Twitter Support account read: “We have just launched a new, improved version of TweetDeck. All users can continue…

Elon Musk has branded Mark Zuckerberg “a cuck” as his Twitter rival Threads continues to grow. The Twitter chairman tweeted that “Zuck is a cuck”, a contemptuous term for a weak man with moderate or progressive political views, as the pair continue to throw jibes at each other. Musk has gone as far as filing a lawsuit accusing Meta – the owner of Instagram, Facebook, WhatsApp and now Threads – of employing former Twitter staff. When Threads launched on July 5, Zuckerberg tweeted for the first time in more than a decade posting a meme of two Spider-Men pointing at each other. The billionaire bu…

Twitter boss Elon Musk has slammed Meta’s new rival service Threads in a cutting social media post. The billionaire businessman – who bought Twitter last year – spoke out against the new text-based platform owned by the company run by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg following its launch on Wednesday (05.07.23) amid allegations the service may be using “Twitter trade secrets “. In a post on Twitter, Musk wrote: “Competition is fine, cheating is not”. It came after a lawyer representing Twitter – Alex Spiro – wrote a letter to Zuckerberg accusing Threads of “systematic, wilful, and unlawful mis…

Twitter has claimed users couldn’t be warned about “temporary” rate limits”. People on the social networking site were left fuming after the company introduced spontaneous limits on how many tweets people can read, as well as scrapping the preferred version of the TweetDeck tool. In a blog post, Twitter said: “To ensure the authenticity of our user base we must take extreme measures to remove spam and bots from our platform. “That’s why we temporarily limited usage so we could detect and eliminate bots and other bad actors that are harming the platform. “Any advance notice on these actions wou…

Meta is officially set to launch its rival to Twitter, Threads, on Thursday (06.07.23). Mark Zuckerberg’s firm – the owner of Facebook, WhatsApp and Instagram – has made its text-based social media app available to pre-order on the Apple App Store. A description reads: “Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow.” The launch comes swiftly after Twitter’s Elon Musk announced a temporary cap on how many posts users can read on the micro-blogging site. Users now also need to be verified to use the TweetDeck…

Cambodia’s Prime Minister has threatened to ban Facebook. Hun Sen has left the social media platform and suggested he will ban it from the South Asian country after the Meta-owned website’s oversight board recommended he be suspended over his “history of committing human rights violations and intimidating political opponents” and his “strategic use of social media to amplify such threats”. The 69-year-old politician – who is an avid user of the site and boasts 14 million followers on his page – is currently running for election after 38 years in power and told workers at a garment factory in t…

Chris Evans has deactivated his Twitter and Instagram accounts. The 42-year-old actor is following in the footsteps of fellow Hollywood star Taron Egerton, who admitted this week he was taking some time off social media, with ‘Captain America’ star Chris telling fans he is treating himself “to a summer with less screen time”, before turning off his pages. In response to Taron saying he is taking “a break from social media for a while”, Chris replied on Instagram: “Count me in. Gonna take a little break everyone.” He then added on Twitter: “Hey everyone, I’m treating myself to a summer with les…

Twitter agrees to follow the European Union rules on misinformation. This agreement comes after Elon Musk pulled the social media giant out of the Digital Services Act amid backlash about his time at the top of the site – which has included criticism about how he been battling against misinformation, Russian propaganda and other criminal activity after his $44 billion sale went through last October – but has since brought in Linda Yaccarino, an ex Yahoo executive to help him run the company as a CEO and are now viewing fake news “seriously” after being threatened with a fine totalling six per …

Elon Musk and Mark Zuckerberg have agreed to a cage fight. After the Twitter and Tesla owner declared on the microblogging site that he is “up for a cage fight” with the Meta founder, Zuckerberg shared a screenshot of his tweet and responded, “Send me [the] location”. A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: “The story speaks for itself.” Musk then responded by suggesting the Vegas Octagon as the venue for the showdown, where the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) battles are held in Sin City. Musk, 51, then quipped: “I have this great move that I call “The Walrus”, where I just lie on top of my op…