Social Media

Reddit to Perplexity: Get your filthy hands off our forums

Updated Social media site continues legal campaign against those who take its content without a license

Legal22 Oct 2025 | 24

Labor unions sue Trump administration over social media surveillance

Updated Sharing views POTUS doesn't like? Say goodbye to that visa, First Amendment be damned

Legal17 Oct 2025 | 79

ICE plans to scour Facebook, TikTok, X, and even defunct Google+ for illegal immigration leads

Draft solicitation calls for nearly 30 contractors to mine social media and other open-source data

Public Sector03 Oct 2025 | 60

Is GitHub a social network that endangers children? Australia wants to know

As ban on under-16s using some sites looms, cyber-safety regulator sends Microsoft’s code locker a letter

Legal25 Sep 2025 | 47

Indian court stops streaming hearings on social media to protect lawyers from mean memes

Did you hear the one about the thin-skinned barrister?

Legal16 Sep 2025 | 3

Social media users rubbish at spotting sneaky ads, say boffins

Social media marketeers getting better at concealing promos in posts

Offbeat14 Aug 2025 | 22

Chinese biz using AI to hit US politicians, influencers with propaganda

DEF CON In misinformation, Russia might be the top dog but the Chinese are coming warns former NSA boss

Research08 Aug 2025 | 17

Meta training AI on social media posts? Only 7% in Europe think it's OK

Updated Privacy campaigner Max Schrem's NOYB is back on Zuck's back

AI + ML07 Aug 2025 | 19

Amnesty slams Elon Musk's X for 'central role' in fueling 2024 UK riots

Human rights org calls for greater accountability and stronger enforcement of Online Safety Act

Personal Tech07 Aug 2025 | 85

Australia bans kids from signing up for YouTube accounts, angering Google

‘We want kids to know who they are before platforms assume who they are’ says Minister

Legal30 Jul 2025 | 63

I just deleted my entire social media presence before visiting the US – and I'm a citizen

Column In 2025, social media has moved from self-expression to self-entrapment

Columnists21 Jul 2025 | 235

Coldplay kiss-cam flap proves we’re already our own surveillance state

Comment And we’re the ones building it

Offbeat18 Jul 2025 | 85

UK Online Safety Act 'not up to scratch' on misinformation, warn MPs

Last summer's riots show how some content can be harmful but not illegal

Cyber-crime11 Jul 2025 | 84

Australia not banning kids from YouTube – they’ll just have to use mum and dad’s logins

Regulator acknowledges that won’t stop video nasties, but welcomes extra ‘friction’

Public Sector27 Jun 2025 | 29

Visiting students can't hide social media accounts from Uncle Sam anymore

Visa seekers are reportedly censoring their own posts to visit the land of the free

Public Sector25 Jun 2025 | 116

Australia finds age detection tech has many flaws but will work

Probe into how to implement social media ban finds privacy risks, developer overreach, infosec uncertainties

Personal Tech20 Jun 2025 | 40

Training AI on Mastodon posts? The idea's extinct after terms updated

Such rules could be tricky to enforce in the Fediverse, though

AI + ML18 Jun 2025 | 9

X's new 'encrypted' XChat feature seems no more secure than the failure that came before it

Musk's 'Bitcoin-style encryption' claim has experts scratching their heads

Security03 Jun 2025 | 89

New Zealand kind-of moves to ban social media for under-16s, require age checks for new accounts

Prime Minister bemoans bullying, addiction, and inappropriate content – but isn’t planning a rapid vote

Public Sector07 May 2025 | 30

Meta to feed Europe's public posts into AI brains again

Who said this opt-out approach is OK with GDPR, was it Llama 4, hmm?

AI + ML15 Apr 2025 | 22

Musk's xAI swallows Musk's X in ego-friendly, all-stock deal

Comment Social media platform magically worth a billion more than what he bought it for

AI + ML31 Mar 2025 | 142

Uncle Sam mulls policing social media of all would-be citizens

President ordered immigration officials to ramp up vetting of foreigners 'to the maximum degree'

Public Sector06 Mar 2025 | 78

Looks like paywalls are coming soon to a subreddit near you

What do Redditors think? Well, it wouldn't be Reddit if they were happy

Personal Tech18 Feb 2025 | 54

Reddit’s first public year shows growth, but Wall Street’s still not happy

User numbers fall short, triggering investor sell-off

Personal Tech13 Feb 2025 | 28

Ignorance really is bliss when you’re drowning in information

Column If only the joy of missing out was easier to achieve

Personal Tech12 Feb 2025 | 77

App stores unconvinced by Trump's TikTok ban pause, which may itself be on shaky legal ground

Analysis El Reg asked a lawyer to explain WTH is going on

Personal Tech21 Jan 2025 | 42

China ever-so slightly softens stance on possible US TikTok sale

Updated President Trump allows vid app to keep running for 75 days while he reviews security concerns and develops a policy

Public Sector21 Jan 2025 | 10

In farewell speech, Biden rails against the tech industrial complex, disinfo dismantling democracy

Welcome to a decade where the oligarchs are no longer silent in the shadows

Bootnotes16 Jan 2025 | 84

The bell tolls for TikTok as lifelines to avoid January 19 US ban vanish

Comment SCOTUS unlikely to save it, no time to find a buyer. So, hi, Xiaohongshu!

Personal Tech14 Jan 2025 | 78

Hulk smash Musk and Zuck! Actor Mark Ruffalo and non-billionaire pals back network tech underpinning Bluesky

Updated Free Our Feeds solicits funds to foster AT Protocol that powers decentralized social media

Bootnotes14 Jan 2025 | 60

We did warn you – 2025 may be the year AI bots take over Meta's 'verse

Opinion Can't grow any more? Let's just invent engagement!

Personal Tech08 Jan 2025 | 51

Zuck takes a page from Musk: Meta dumps fact-checkers, loosens speech restrictions

Updated 'We're going to catch less bad stuff,' Facebook tycoon admits, but it's worth it to get Trump off his back

Personal Tech07 Jan 2025 | 125

Supreme Court to hear TikTok's appeal against law that would force it to shut, or sell

Will consider free speech arguments just nine days before the clock runs out

Legal19 Dec 2024 | 40

Facebook, Threads, WhatsApp, Instagram stumble on and offline in global outage

Updated What's an influencer to do?

Personal Tech11 Dec 2024 | 30

Facing sale or ban, TikTok tossed under national security bus by appeals court

Video slinger looks to Supremes for salvation, though anything could happen under Trump

Personal Tech06 Dec 2024 | 43

Bluesky keeps growing, and so do its problems

Impersonators, harmful content and AI scraping are up, too

Software02 Dec 2024 | 82

Brits are scrolling away from X and aren't that interested in AI

Ofcom's Online Nation report drills into the UK's internet habits for 2024

Personal Tech29 Nov 2024 | 180

Australia passes law to keep under-16s off social media – good luck with that, mate

Also intros surveillance tweaks to protect very successful AN0M fake messaging app sting

Legal28 Nov 2024 | 84

Imagine a land in which Big Tech can't send you down online rabbit holes or use algorithms to overcharge you

China is trying to become that land, with a government crackdown on the things that make the internet no fun

Security25 Nov 2024 | 69

Study suggests X turned right just in time for election season

Significant uptick in visibility for Musk, Republican account posts from July 13

Personal Tech20 Nov 2024 | 178

Australia tells tots: No TikTok till you're 16... or X, Instagram and Facebook

Tech companies, not users, to be punished for violations of social media time-out

Personal Tech11 Nov 2024 | 87

Reddit CEO thanks AI for helping the site finally turn a profit

After 19 years of losses, all it took was a machine translation of its posts to get out of the red

AI + ML30 Oct 2024 | 15

Bluesky capitalizes on X woes with funding and user growth

The decentralized social network hints at sustainability with talk of subscriptions

Personal Tech28 Oct 2024 | 29

Elon Musk's X mashed by Australian court for evading child protection reporting

Argument that it didn't inherit Twitter's legal obligations did not hit the spot

Legal04 Oct 2024 | 74

It's true, social media moderators do go after conservatives

Because they're most likely to share crappy misinformation online

Personal Tech03 Oct 2024 | 247

Elon's latest X-periment: Blocked users can still stalk your public tweets

'High time this happened' says Musk

Personal Tech24 Sep 2024 | 35

No way? Big Tech's 'lucrative surveillance' of everyone is terrible for privacy, freedom

Says Lina Khan in latest push to rein in Meta, Google, Amazon and pals

Personal Tech19 Sep 2024 | 26

Telegram apologizes to South Korea and takes down smutty deepfakes

Unclear if this is a sign controversial service is cleaning up its act everywhere

Public Sector04 Sep 2024 | 10

Elon Musk’s Starlink won't block Elon Musk’s X in Brazil, as required by court order

Appeal panel upholds ban as Musk Xeets up a rage-storm

Legal03 Sep 2024 | 151

Musk's X, Media Matters headed to trial

The platform 'has provided sufficient allegations to survive dismissal,' judge says

Legal30 Aug 2024 | 114

France charges Telegram CEO with multiple crimes

Testing the idea that a platform boss can be responsible for the acts of others, or not helping to investigate them

Legal30 Aug 2024 | 128

Elon Musk reins in Grok AI bot to stop election misinformation

Because who needs yet another lawsuit?

AI + ML28 Aug 2024 | 35

TikTok isn't protected by Section 230 in 10-year-old’s ‘blackout challenge’ death

Want a bot to pick engaging content and immunity from liability? Sorry, no

Legal28 Aug 2024 | 80

Big Tech: Malaysia won't let us set our own rules and that's not fair and makes us grumpy

Asia Internet Coalition asks for rethink of social media licensing law with the old 'You'll scare away investors' line – a week after AWS opened a region

Public Sector28 Aug 2024 | 22

Facebook whistleblower calls for transparency in social media, AI

Frances Haugen says navigating the digital world requires a North Star

Software27 Aug 2024 | 14

Zuckerberg says Biden administration pressured Meta to police COVID posts

'The government pressure was wrong, and I regret that we were not more outspoken about it,' says Facebook founder

Personal Tech27 Aug 2024 | 172