Malaysia is the latest country with plans to limit social media use by age. On Sunday, the country's cabinet approved a ban on social media accounts for anyone under the age of 16, The Associated Press reports. It comes as concerns around social media's negative impact on children has grown globally.
Social media is an overwhelming part of our lives these days, but the Pew Research Center provided an in-depth look at just how much we rely on these platforms. In a 2025 report that looks at social media usage with American adults, the data-driven think tank revealed some nitty-gritty details like year-to-year changes, age gaps and most importantly, frequency of use.
You'll soon be able to see more information about X accounts, including where they're based and how many times they've changed their usernames. X is rolling out a new feature called "About this account" that displays more information about user accounts. Not only will it display the country a user is located in and username changes, the feature will also make public which country the account was created in and whether it's connected via the web or a specific app store.
Creators on Facebook and Instagram have long griped about accounts that lift their videos without permission. Now, Meta is rolling out a new tool that allows creators to more easily track when their videos have been reposted by others.
Nearly a decade after going offline, Vine is (sort of) back and, in a truly bizarre twist, Jack Dorsey is at least partially responsible. An early Twitter employee has released a beta version of a rebooted Vine — now called "Divine" — that revives the app's six-second videos and includes a portion of the original app's archive.
Meta is revamping Facebook Marketplace in an effort to make it more appealing to "young adults" on the platform. The updates includes new collaborative shopping features, as well as AI-generated suggestions and "insights" about specific listings.
Next year will see the end arrive for two of Facebook's external social plugins. The platform's Like button and Share button for third-party websites will be discontinued on February 10, 2026.
Snap is offering Snapchat+ subscribers the chance to have 2D Bitmoji avatars once again.
Patreon has spent the last few years pitching itself as a healthier alternative to algorithmic social platforms for creators. Now, the membership service is adding a bunch of new social features for its creators in an attempt to make its platform more of a viable alternative to mainstream social media.
Amazon is in the middle of rolling out Alexa+, the long-awaited, AI-infused update for its voice assistant. At the same time, the company has also been giving a fair bit of attention to Amazon Music, adding things like Alexa+ integration and AI-powered playlists. And as of today, Amazon is rolling out a new community-focused feature called Fan Groups. As the name suggests, Fan Groups are a way for users to connect around different musical interests — and what makes this more fun to me is that these aren’t limited to Amazon-curated groups.