Taylor Lorenz was in high demand this week. As a prolific journalist at The Atlantic and about-to-be member of Harvard’s prestigious Nieman Fellowship for journalism, that’s perhaps not surprising. Nor was this the first time she’s had a bit of a moment: Lorenz has already served as an in-house expert on social media and the […]
View More The ethics of internet culture: a conversation with Taylor LorenzCategory: Social
Facebook staff raised concerns about Cambridge Analytica in September 2015, per court filing
Further details have emerged about when and how much Facebook knew about data-scraping by the disgraced and now defunct Cambridge Analytica political data firm. Last year a major privacy scandal hit Facebook after it emerged CA had paid GSR, a developer with access to Facebook’s platform, to extract personal data on as many as 87M […]
View More Facebook staff raised concerns about Cambridge Analytica in September 2015, per court filingFacebook’s AI couldn’t spot mass murder
Facebook has given another update on measures it took and what more it’s doing in the wake of the livestreamed video of a gun massacre by a far right terrorist who killed 50 people in two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand. Earlier this week the company said the video of the slayings had been viewed […]
View More Facebook’s AI couldn’t spot mass murderSlowdown or not, China’s luxury goods still seeing high-end growth
Despite well-documented concerns over an economic slowdown in China, the country’s luxury goods market is still seeing opulent growth according to a new study. Behind secular and demographic tailwinds, the luxury sector is set to continue its torrid expansion in the face of volatility as it’s quickly becoming a defensive economic crown jewel. Using proprietary […]
View More Slowdown or not, China’s luxury goods still seeing high-end growthPicsArt hits 130 million MAUs as Chinese flock to its photo editing app
If you’re like me, who isn’t big on social media, you’d think that the image filters that come inside most apps will do the job. But for many others, especially the younger crowd, making their photos stand out is a huge deal. The demand is big enough that PicsArt, a rival to filtering companies VSCO […]
View More PicsArt hits 130 million MAUs as Chinese flock to its photo editing appMorphin instantly Deepfakes your face into GIFs
Want to star in your favorite memes and movie scenes? Upload a selfie to Morphin, choose your favorite GIF, and your face is grafted in to create a personalized copy you can share anywhere. Become Tony Stark as he suits up like Iron Man. Drop the mic like Obama, dance like Drake, or slap your […]
View More Morphin instantly Deepfakes your face into GIFsTwitter cracks down on API abuse, will charge B2B devs
To prevent its own Cambridge Analytica and make sure it’s getting paid for its data, Twitter will audit developers using its APIs. Starting June 19th, Twitter will require any app that calls a recent tweets from or mentions of a user more than 100,000 times per day to submit their app for review. If a […]
View More Twitter cracks down on API abuse, will charge B2B devsSnap is under NDA with UK Home Office discussing how to centralize age checks online
Snap is under NDA with the UK’s Home Office as part of a working group tasked with coming up with more robust age verification technology that’s able to robustly identify children online. The detail emerged during a parliamentary committee hearing as MPs in the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) questioned Stephen Collins, […]
View More Snap is under NDA with UK Home Office discussing how to centralize age checks onlineInstagram launches shopping checkout, charging sellers a fee
Instagram is opening a whole new revenue stream. Now the 130 million people who tap Instagram’s product tags on shopping posts will be able to buy those items without leaving the app thanks to stored payment info. “Checkout with Instagram” launches today in the US with more than 20 top brands including Adidas, Kylie Cosmetics, […]
View More Instagram launches shopping checkout, charging sellers a feemisterb&b hits the equity crowdfunding trail to expand into hotels
Homosexuality is illegal in a third of the planet, and in eight countries, it is punishable by death. In the febrile atmosphere of today’s politics, hate crime incidents in the US increased by 17% between 2016 to 2017, according to the FBI. Over 20 of those incidents were crimes against an individual’s sexual-orientation — the […]
View More misterb&b hits the equity crowdfunding trail to expand into hotelsYC-backed Basement is a social network for close friends only
The past few years have been a bit of a dark age for budding social media startups. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Snap and messenger apps took up all the time of their users, leaving little room for yet another social media platform. But the tide is shifting. Privacy scandals have shaken some users’ faith giants like […]
View More YC-backed Basement is a social network for close friends onlyAfter Christchurch, Reddit bans communities infamous for sharing graphic videos of death
In the aftermath of the tragic mosque massacre that claimed 49 lives in Christchurch, New Zealand, tech companies scrambled to purge their platforms of promotional materials that the shooter left behind. As most of the internet is now unfortunately aware, the event was broadcast live on Facebook, making it one of the most horrific incidents […]
View More After Christchurch, Reddit bans communities infamous for sharing graphic videos of death