Social Media

Exclusive news, analysis, and commentary on the world’s top platforms, including Facebook, X, and TikTok.

Patent Drop

Google Social Media Patents Add to YouTube’s AI Upgrade

Photo of Google Comment Section Analysis Patent via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The filings add to Google’s larger bid to build AI into YouTube’s offerings, though AI could present risks in this context.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Snap Continues Smart Glasses Push with Energy-Efficient Processing Patent

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The company unveiled a set of specs, as well as a new operating system for them, at its annual Partner Summit last week.

2 min read
Social Media

LinkedIn Deepens Its Facebookification with AI Data Scraping

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Reports have surfaced that LinkedIn is quietly opting its users in to data scraping so it can train its large language models.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Meta Neural Network Patent Showcases AI’s Place in Artificial Reality Bet

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The company’s access to data gives the power to create AR features that are “pretty sophisticated,” one expert said.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Snap Patent Adds to AR Ad Bet as Meta Shuts Down Spark AR Studio

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Snap may want to use AR to help you redeem your next free coffee.

2 min read
Social Media

X Hit with AI Privacy Lawsuits in the EU

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Nine privacy complaints have been filed against X in the European Union, alleging that Grok illegally hoovers up citizens’ user data.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Snap Voice-Control AR Patent Highlights Roadblocks to Adoption

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The company has struggled to get its smart glasses off the ground, and faces roadblocks in cost and form factor, experts said.

2 min read
Social Media

TikTok Retreats From Get-Paid-to-Use App Under European Scrutiny

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TikTok agreed to permanently withdraw a rewards program that it had on “TikTok Lite,” essentially a pared-down version of its core app.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Snap May Be Eyeing an AI Comeback

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Snap could use AI to create more engaging experiences and “significantly strengthen Snap’s standing as a legitimate content platform.”

2 min read
Social Media

EU Hits Meta With Yet Another Child Welfare Investigation

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The threat posed by Europe’s new law might have more power to punish Meta than what it’s previously dealt with.

1 min read
Social Media

Billionaire Frank McCourt Pursues TikTok Acquisition

Photo by Knight Foundation via CC BY-SA 2.0

McCourt says his goal is to build “a new and better version of the internet, where individuals are respected.”

2 min read
Patent Drop

Meta’s Machine Learning AR Patent Fuses Its AI and Metaverse Bets

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

Despite investors’ reaction to the company’s big spending, Meta’s potential to monetize AI and its access to data may give it a leg up in the long…

2 min read
Social Media

TikTok to Start Labeling AI-Created Content

Photo via Connor Lin / The Daily Upside

The platform says it plans to identify and label content created by other AI tools, like Adobe’s Firefly and OpenAI’s Dall-E.

2 min read
Social Media

Universal Music Squashes its Beef with TikTok

Photo by Lars Crommelinck via CC BY 2.0

The new deal enmeshes UMG’s music into TikTok’s burgeoning e-commerce business while also battling AI-generated songs.

2 min read
Media & Entertainment

America’s Shortening Attention Spans are Corporate Gold

Photo illustration by Connor Lin / The Daily Upside, Photo by Tohamina via Freepik

The stakes for media and tech companies have never been higher, even if attention spans have never been shorter.

5 min read
Social Media

TikTok Is Ready to Sue Over Potential US Ban

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The new bill could be voted on in the Senate as soon as Tuesday, and TikTok is ready with a legal strategy.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Snap Patent Brings Emotion Detection to Workplace Surveillance

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

AI that’s meant to detect emotion is highly controversial.

2 min read
Social Media

Meta Patent Adds AI Voice Assistants Across Devices and Apps

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Its latest patent for a way to perform “concierge-type services” via voice adds to the company’s broader AI ambitions.

3 min read
Social Media

TikTok is Launching an Instagram Clone

Photo by Jonathan Kemper via Unsplash

The short-form video app said it will soon launch “TikTok Notes,” a photo-and-text-based platform intended to mimic the appeal of Instagram.

2 min read
Patent Drop

Snap Plays Catch Up to Apple, Meta with Spatial Audio AR Filing

Photo via U.S. Patent and Trademark Office

The filing highlights that sound is a major part of the extended reality experience.

2 min read