There were an estimated 4.89 billion social media users worldwide at the end of 2023. This active digital space changes radically due to regulations, competition and advancement in technology. In the month of April, some significant changes to social media platforms and news affecting users. We take a look at some that caught our eye.
Meta Family of Apps Get AI Integration
Meta launched its AI assistant across Instagram, WhatsApp, and Facebook. This AI integration allows users to access a wide range of features, including information retrieval, text generation, and content creation. This happens directly within their conversations.
Built on Meta Llama 3, Meta AI is an intelligent assistant that is capable of complex reasoning, following instructions, visualizing ideas, and solving nuanced problems. It is available to users on the latest versions of Meta’s apps.
Meta is rolling in some African countries including Zambia, Zimbabwe, Malawi, Ghana, Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa – Kenya is sadly missing. Other countries include the US, Australia, Canada, Pakistan, Jamaica, New Zealand and Singapore.
LinkedIn New AI Package
Microsoft owned LinkedIn is integrating AI more on the platform. In a new subscription tier for business pages, LinkedIn is launching an AI tool able to produce written content for subscribers. The package has other features including a feature to Auto-invite engaged members to follow a Page.
TikTok to Submit Compliance Reports in Kenya
In Kenya, video-sharing platform TikTok is now mandated to start publishing reports every quarter. The country’s ICT Ministry presented this new directive to the Parliament as part of a plan to deal with the negative incidents linked to the Chinese video-hosting service. According to the ministry, this would be a more reasonable response to the matter rather than banning TikTok from the country altogether.
TikTok Faces US Ban
However, in the USA, TikTok faces a complete ban. A bill, known as the “Protecting Americans from Foreign Adversary Controlled Applications Act “was passed by the 2 houses in the country and signed into law by President Joe Biden. The divest-or-ban law seeks to force TikTok owners to sell the app within one year. TikTok owner ByteDance has stated it prefers to shut down its app rather than sell it if the Chinese company exhausts all legal options.
Still in April, Pakistan confirmed it had banned the app. It joins the list of countries that have either a partial or a total ban of TikTok, Chinese owned social media app.
Reddit Receives No Takedown Requests from Africa
A report by US based social media platform, Reddit, shows no African state asked for content to be taken down. The transparency report covering the period between July 1st and December 31st 2023 shares numbers on legal removal requests received by Reddit. The platforms legal removal requests are usually received from governments, law enforcement agencies, and private parties. Legal requests are submitted to remove content on Reddit either via court order or some other type of request.
For the entire second half of 2023, no such request was lodged by an African state or African legal agency. The social media company received 121 requests from a total of 19 countries.
WhatsApp Most Popular Social Media in Kenya
WhatsApp remains the most popular social media app in Kenya, with 36% of Kenyans surveyed by Meltwater saying they use the platform. TikTok was second with 20% while Meta owned Instagram is third with 15%. Facebook is now fourth with 10.3%.
WhatsApp Introduces Chat Filters
WhatsApp introduced Chat filters for users globally this month. This feature help users find the most recent WhatsApp conversations in different categories. WhatsApp’s Chat Filters will now sort your D.M. discussions into:
All – The default view of all your messages.
Unread – All of your personal conversations that you need to catch up on or respond to
Groups -All your group chats in one place
Social Media Platform Threads Grows by 20 million
Threads a platform launched in July last year and seen as a Twitter replacement is growing. When Elon Musk bought X, Threads launched saying it will be a “positive and creative space” for people to express their ideas. The Mark Zuckerberg owned social media platform has added 20 million users in the last two months to reach 150 million active users.
Like its rival, X, Meta is paying some people when they post on Threads after launching a bonus program for creators. Meta is testing this limited-time (no detailed long-term plans) and invite-only program. It has been active since March of this year. In April, Threads also announced it will soon have DMs.
Hyundai Stops Advertising on X
Automaker Hyundai became the latest brand to halt advertising on X due to brand safety concerns. The South Korean company joins other major companies such as Walt Disney, Warner Bros, Discovery, and NBCUniversal, the parent of Comcast. Since, October 2022, brands have either posed ads or limited their activity on the platform. This is because Elon Musk reduced content moderation, resulting in a sharp rise in hate speech on social media platform, according to civil rights groups.
Google Postpones Removal of 3rd Party Cookies
The planned removal of third-party cookies from Chrome, a move intended to enhance user privacy, has encountered another delay. This postponement stems from ongoing discussions with the U.K.’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Back in 2022, the CMA raised concerns that Google’s approach to phasing out third-party cookies could disadvantage its competitors within the digital marketing landscape.
In response, Google has actively engaged with the CMA to address these concerns and propose revisions to its plan. While progress has been made, some outstanding issues remain unresolved. This necessitates a further extension of the timeline for cookie deprecation to ensure a solution that is fair and fosters a healthy competitive environment within the digital advertising industry.
Instagram Exclusive Content Subscription is Growing
Since 2022, Instagram has been offering creator subscription. This enables creators to gate content that is only accessible to paying subscribers. Instagram now states it has over 2 million creator subscriptions in the app. It means creators are now making money directly from their most dedicated audience.
To enhance subscription numbers, Instagram is showing subscription stories teaser display. Non-subscribers will see when a creator has posted subscriber-only content, giving them the option to sign-up to view.
Instagram is empowering creators with new tools to safeguard their exclusive content, including methods to deter screenshots and screen recordings. Additionally, the visual social media platform is providing valuable resources like case studies and best practices through its professional dashboard.
Social Media Law May Force WhatsApp India Exit
India’s 2021 rule of Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) requires social media companies that provide messaging services to reveal the identity of message senders (first originator of the information) if ordered by a judicial order or a competent authority.
Due to this rule, WhatsApp with over 400 million users in the country is thinking of leaving India. WhatsApp said this rule is unconstitutional in their petition as it would force the company to break end-to-end encryption, violating the fundamental right to free speech and privacy. In the past, WhatsApp has threatened to exit the UK due to the Online Safety bill.
Perhaps a premonition of how it could be, WhatsApp began the month with a global outage. WhatsApp was not the only service affected. Meta’s status page detailed disruptions to key business services, including its Ads Manager, Messenger Platform, WhatsApp Business API and others. Users of Facebook, Instagram and Threads reported issues trying to view recent posts or create new posts.
