Tag Archives: Instagram

Landmark Antitrust Trial Could Force Zuckerberg To Sell Instagram

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A trial in the landmark antitrust case against social media giant Meta kicked off in Washington on Monday, the BBC reported.

Lawyers for the US competition and consumer watchdog allege Meta unlawfully quashed rivals by purchasing Instagram and What’s App over a decade ago.

“They decided that competition was too hard and it would be easier to buy out their rivals rather than to compete with them,” the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) lawyer Daniel Matheson.

Meta countered that the lawsuit from the FTC, which reviewed and approved those acquisitions, is “misguided.”  

Meta “acquired Instagram and WhatsApp to improve and grow them alongside Facebook,” the company’s attorney Mark Hansen argued.

A win by the FTC could force CEO Mark Zuckerberg break up the company.

Meta reported: On Monday April 14, trial will begin in the weak antitrust lawsuit brought by the FTC, attempting to undo the acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp that it cleared over ten years ago. The FTC’s case ignores how the market actually works and chases a theory that doesn’t hold up in the real world.

Instagram and WhatsApp provide a model for what successful acquisitions can achieve: Meta has made Instagram and WhatsApp better, more reliable and more secure through billions of dollars and millions of hours of investment.

With features such as in-app messaging, live streaming, Stories and Reels, we have grown Instagram from a small app with an uncertain future into one that more than two billion monthly active users enjoy today, providing them with an engaging place to discover, connect and create.

In order for the FTC to win this case, they need to prove both that Meta has a dominant share in a properly defined product market the includes all competitors, and that the two acquisitions harmed competition and consumers. They are wrong on both claims.

NPR reported: The Federal Trade Commission’s blockbuster antitrust case against Meta kicks off Monday in a courtroom in Washington, D.C. It’s the cumulation of a nearly six-year investigation into whether the social media giant broke competition laws in acquiring Instagram and WhatsApp.

At stake is the future of Meta’s $14 trillion advertising business and the prospect of having to spin off its hugely popular services into separate companies — a corporate breakup the likes of which has not been seen since AT&T’s telephone monopoly was forced to split apart more has 40 years ago.

Lawyers for the FTC and Meta will deliver opening statements on Monday before the U.S. District Judge James Boasberg in a trial expected to stretch for seven to eight weeks.

Reams of evidence and dozens of witnesses will be scrutinized. The government plans to call CEO Mark Zuckerberg, former Chief Operating Officer Sheryl Sandberg and the head of Instagram, Adam Mosseri, to the witness stand.

Meta’s AI Video Editing Features Are Coming To Instagram Next Year

AI, Meta

Earlier this year, Meta previewed Movie Gen, an AI video tool that looked impressively realistic (at least in the sample clips it released.) At the time, though, Meta said it was still a research project with no immediate plans to make the features available to users, Engadget reported.

But now it seems that Movie Gen could arrive on Instagram sooner than later. Instagram’s top exec Adam Mosseri posted a short video previewing the kind of seamless AI edits that will eventually be possible, saying that the company is “hoping to bring this to Instagram next year.”

In the clip, Mosseri says that Meta is “working on some really exciting AI tools” for video creators. “You should be able to do anything you want with your videos,” he says. “You should be able to change your outfit, or change the context in which you’re sitting, or add a chain — whatever you can think of.”

The Verge reported: Instagram is planning to introduce a generative AI editing feature next year that will allow users to “change nearly any aspect of your videos.” 

The tech is powered by Meta’s Movie Gen AI model according to a teaser posted by Instagram head Adam Mosseri, and aimed to provide creators with more tools to help transform their content and bring their ideas to life without extensive video editing or manipulation skills.

Mosseri says the feature can make adjustments using a “simple text prompt.” The announcement video includes previews of early research AI models that change Mosseri’s outfit, background environments, and even his overall appearance — in one scene transforming him into a felt puppet.

Meta unveiled its Movie Gen AI video generator in October, which promises to “preserve human identity and motion” in the videos it creates or edits. The announcement was made months after similar models from competitors like OpenAI’s Sora and Adobe Firefly Video model, the latter of which is already powering beta text-to-video editing tools inside Premier Pro. 

Gizmodo reported: One common complaint about Instagram, and social media in general, is that it breeds insecurity by presenting an unrealistic impression of other people’s lives as being better than they really are — the best moments only. 

And heavy editing of physical appearances is known to contribute to body dissatisfaction even when people know what they are seeing is not the full picture. Instagram is soon going to make that situation somewhat worse by allowing users to completely transform their videos using generative AI.

In a teaser shared by Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, was able to completely transform his appearance, in one shot turning himself into a felt puppet, and in another transporting Mosserri from his office to a snowy mountain range with a furry coat. In another, he was able to place a hippo behind him that jumps around and looked into the camera.

In my opinion, I think that Meta’s Movie Gen AI model might make some people who see it feel inadequate about their bodies, and will not want to put up videos of themselves.

Instagram Is Putting Every Teen Into A More Private and Restrictive New Account

Instagram

Starting today, Instagram will begin putting new and existing users under the age of 18 into “Teen Accounts” — a move that will affect how tens of millions of teens interact with the platform, The Verge reported.

The new account type automatically applies a set of protections to young users, and only users of 16 years or older can loosen some of these settings.

For starters, the accounts of all minors on Instagram will be private by default (not just teens under 16) and will come with some of Instagram’s existing restrictions for young users, such as has those that prevent strangers from direct messaging them. But other new features are coming too, including a Sleep Mode that silences notifications from 10PM to 7AM.

Teens will also get to pick age-appropriate topics that they can see more of in Instagram’s recommendations and on the Explore page, such as “sports,” “animals & pets,” “travel,” and more. Instagram will continue limiting the types of content teens see on Reels or on the Explore page. It will also send alerts reminding teens to take breaks from the app.

Along with these changes, Instagram is updating some of its parental controls. Parents who want to supervise their teen on the app will be able to see who their child has messaged in the past seven days (without seeing the contents of the messages). They’ll also get to see which topics their teen has chosen to view most often.

The Guardian reported Meta is putting Instagram users under the age of 18 into new “teen accounts” to allow parents greater control over their activities, including the ability to block children from viewing the app at night.

The change will apply to new teen users but will also be extended to existing accounts held by teenagers over the next few months.

Changes under the teen account setting include giving parents the ability to set daily time limits for using the app, block teens from using Instagram at certain times, see accounts their child is exchanging messages with and being shown the content categories they are viewing.

Teenagers signing up to Instagram are already placed by default into the strictest privacy settings, which include barring adults from messaging teens who don’t follow them and muting notifications at night. 

However, under the new “teen account” feature users under the age of 16 will need parental permission to change those settings, while 16- and 17-year-olds defaulted into the new features will be able to change them independently. Once an under-16 tries to change their settings, the parental supervision features will allow adults to set new time limits, block access at night and view who their child exchanges messages with.

BBC reported Instagram is overhauling the way it works for teenager, promising more “built-in protections” for young people and added controls and reassurance for parents.

The new “teen accounts” are being introduced from Tuesday in the UK, US, Canada, and Australia.

They will turn many privacy settings on by default for all under 18s, including making their content unviewable to people who don’t follow them, and making them actively approve all new followers.

In my opinion, it is a good idea for parents of teens to set boundaries for when their teens can use Instagram. Parents should also take a look at who their teens have been following.

 

 

EU Launches Probe Into Meta Over Social Media Addiction In Children

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Brussels has opened an in-depth probe into Meta over concerns it is failing to do enough to protect children from becoming addicted to social media platforms such as Instagram, Financial Times reported.

The European Commission, the EU’s executive arm, announced on Thursday it would look into whether the Silicon Valley giant’s apps were reinforcing “rabbit hole” effects, where the users get drawn ever deeper into online feeds and topics.

EU investigators will also look into whether Meta, which owns Facebook and Instagram, is complying with legal obligations to provide appropriate age-verification tools to prevent children from accessing inappropriate content. 

The probe is the second into the company under the EU’s Digital Services Act. The landmark legislation is designed to police content online, with sweeping new rules on the protection of minors. 

European Commission wrote: Today, the Commission has opened formal proceedings to assess whether Meta, the provider of Facebook and Instagram, may have breached the Digital Services Act (DSA) in areas linked to the protection of minors.

The Commission is concerned that the systems of both Facebook and Instagram, including their algorithms, may stimulate behavioural addictions in children, as well as create so-called ‘rabbit-hole effects.’ In addition, the Commission is also concerned about age-assurance and verification methods put in place by Meta.

The current proceedings address the following areas:

  • Meta’s compliance with DSA obligations on assessment and mitigation of risks caused by the design of Facebook’s and Instagram’s online interfaces, which may exploit the weaknesses and inexperience of minors and cause addictive behaviour and/or reinforce so-called ‘rabbit hole effect. Such an assessment is required to counter potential risks for the exercise of the fundamental right to the physical and mental well-being of children as well as to the respect of their rights.
  • Meta’s compliance with DSA requirements in relation to the mitigation measures to prevent access by minors to inappropriate content, notably age-verification tools used by Meta, which may not be reasonable, appropriate, proportionate and effective.
  • Meta’s compliance with DSA obligations to put in place appropriate and proportionate measures to ensure a high level of privacy, safety, and security for minors, particularly with regard to default privacy settings for minors as part of the design and functioning of their recommended systems.

The Guardian reported that a Meta spokesperson said: “We want young people to have safe, age-appropriate experiences online and have spent a decade developing more than 50 tools and policies designed to protect them. This is a challenge the whole industry is facing, and we look forward to sharing the details of our work with the European Commission.”

If the commission is not satisfied with Meta’s response, it can impose a fine equating to 6% of its global turnover. More immediately, it can carry out on-site investigations and interview company executives, with no deadline publicly fixed to complete the investigation.

In my opinion, parents with young children, who want to view Instagram, should sit down with them and act as a filter for content that is inappropriate for their kids. Clearly, Meta isn’t trying hard enough to keep children safe on their platform.

Meta Is Testing Messaging Capabilities For Threads

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As Threads has grown to more than 130 million users, one of the major remaining “missing” features users often complain about is the lack of direct messaging abilities. But those missing out on DMs may soon have a new option to message other Threads users, Engadget reported.

Meta is starting to test messaging features that rely on Instagram’s inbox but allow new messages to be initiated from the Threads app. The feature has begun to appear for some Threads users, who report seeing a “message” button atop other users’ profiles where the “mention” feature used to be. A spokesman for Meta confirmed the change, saying the company was “testing the ability to send a message from Threads to Instagram.”

Of note, Threads still doesn’t have its own inbox, and it’s not clear if it ever will. Instagram head Adam Mosseri has said multiple times that he doesn’t want to create a separate inbox for Threads, but would rather “make the Instagram inbox work” in the app. A Meta spokesperson further confirmed that “this is not a test of the DMs on Threads.”

CNET reported that the “fediverse” is a collection of social media platforms that can talk to each other. Meta announced on March 21 that Threads would be joining the fediverse. With its more than 130 million monthly active subscribers. Threads is introducing millions of people to the fediverse.

According to CNET, the way you use your Threads account won’t change. It just means you’ll have more opportunities to share your posts more widely, particularly with another popular platform in the fediverse, Mastodon. Eagle-eyed Threads users recently spotted President Biden’s Threads account taking advantage of the new feature.

If you’re on Threads, you can now choose to opt into fediverse sharing. If you do, your Threads account and posts will be discoverable on all fediverse platforms, exposing your posts more widely. You can post on Threads, and people can like, reply, and repost on Mastodon.

Social Media Today reported this week, Meta launched a new live test of DMs on Threads, with some users seeing a new “Message” CTA button on Threads profiles.

According to Social Media Today, the Threads DM option will technically enable you to send messages to users via the app. But, that message won’t be via Threads itself. Instead, you’ll actually be sending your DM to their Instagram inbox.

It’s still a DM option within Threads, providing an advanced connection process within the app. But many will be disappointed that Threads isn’t getting its own DM inbox, which, as a replica of Twitter, would bring it more in line with Twitter’s functionality, and make it easier to use in a broader range of applications.

In my opinion, it’s good that Threads’ users can send DMs to people they know on Instagram. Unfortunately, as someone who uses Instagram (but not Threads), those messages feel like clutter.

Users Shocked To Find Instagram Limits Political Content By Default

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Instagram users have started complaining on X (formerly Twitter) after discovering that Meta has begun limiting recommended political content by default, ArsTechnica reported.

Instagram apparently did not notify users directly on the platform when this change happened.

Instead, Instagram rolled out the change in February, announcing in a blog that the platform doesn’t “want to proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow.” That post confirmed on Meta “won’t proactively recommend content about politics on recommendations surfaces across Instagram and Threads,” so that those platforms can remain “a great experience for everyone.”

“This change does not impact posts from accounts people choose to follow; it impacts what the system recommends, and people can control if they want more,” Meta’s spokesperson Dani Lever told ArsTechnica. “We have been working for years to show people less political content based on what they told us they want, and what posts they told us are political.”

To change the setting, users can navigate to Instagram’s menu for “settings and activity” in their profiles, where they can update their “content preferences.” On this menu, “political content” is the last item under a list of “suggested content” controls that allow users to set preferences for what content is recommended in their feeds.

CNET reported reported: If you’ve noticed less political content on Instagram, it’s not just you.

Back in February, Meta announced that it would not longer “proactively recommend political content from accounts you don’t follow.” That means you should still see political content from anyone you follow. And you’ll be limited in what political content you see from other accounts, whether that’s on the explore page, in your feed recommendations or on reels.

Seeing less political content from people you don’t follow isn’t necessarily a bad thing. It could even be a good thing, if you tend to see a good amount of content that goes against your political leanings, CNET wrote.

Mashable reported it looks like Meta is distancing itself — and users — from political content even more.

According to Mashable, it’s easy to see why. Social media sites have been rife with misinformation and disinformation during past elections. It seems Meta’s response to these egregious mistakes is to make political content rarer on its platforms. Users have noticed that Instagram and Threads are quite literally putting limits on political content. On many user’s accounts, the settings were automatically set to “limit” users from seeing “political content”.

As Instagram describes, this decision affects all of the suggested posts in Explore, Reels, Feed Recommendations, and Suggested Users. “It does not affect the content from accounts you follow,” Instagram says.

“This announcement expands on years of work on how we approach and treat political content based on what people have told use they wanted,” Dani Lever, a Meta spokesperson, told Mashable. “And now, people are going to be able to control whether they would like to have these types of posts recommended to them.”

In my opinion, I really don’t want to see political posts on Instagram. That said, if you really want to see more political posts, there’s a way to make that happen if you go into Instagram’s settings.

Threads Is Rolling Out Trending Topics To All Users In The US

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Threads, the Twitter-like app from Instagram, is rolling out its “trending now” feature widely to all users in the U.S. The official rollout comes a month after the app started testing the feature with a select number of users in the country. Trending topics are available on the search page and in the app’s For You Feed, TechCrunch reported.

In a Threads post, Instagram head Adam Mosseri announced the official launch and noted that the company sees it as “an easy way to see what others are talking about on Threads.”

The launch of trending topics will bring Threads more in-line with X, as it will allow users to find timely conversations that are taking place on the social network. Up until now, Threads has been lacking a real-time sense of community, and the introduction of trending topics could help remedy this as it lets you get an idea of what people are currently discussing outside of what you see in your own feeds.

According to TechCrunch, the feature is somewhat limited, as Threads only displays five trending topics at a time, while X shows you multiple. It’s possible that Threads may be limiting the number of trending topics to prevent issues around safety and spam.

Gizmodo reported Thread users in the United States will finally be able to see what topics are trending on the app, a longhand staple feature of Twitter, according to a post from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg on Tuesday. The “Trending Now” page appears under the search bar on Threads.

“Trending now is rolling out to the US today so you can see what people are talking about on Threads,” said Mark Zuckerberg in a post on Threads.

According to Gizmodo, Meta tested a trending page on Threads earlier this year called “Today’s Topics.” It appears the company shifted the name of the page to a more familiar name. The “Trending” page has been a staple of Twitter, Threads’ competitor, for years and it’s been highly cited as a missing feature of the Threads platform.

Meta launched Threads last summer, and it blew up in popularity with 49 million users in the first two days. Then all the hype faded away as many of those millions who signed up for the platform when it was first released just stopped using it. Since then, Meta continued to add new feature such as a web browser version, a retweet-like feature called reposts, and even an edit button. These features have made Threads a popular app once again, and Meta said last month that there are more users now than at launch.

Engadget reported Meta is finally providing a bit of visibility into what kinds of conversations are happening on its Twitter competitor, Threads. The service is rolling out its “trending now” feature to all US users, Mark Zuckerberg said in a post.

For now, the feature is still fairly limited. Threads only shows five trending topics at any one time, which is likely an attempt to keep the list relatively curated and avoid some of the issues that have plagued the feature on Twitter and now X.

In my opinion, it is probably good that Threads is attempting to provide users with new features while also curating what goes into trending topics. That might help keep the Meta’s social media alive for a while.