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Twitter is a social networking site that was created in 2006. Users send "tweets" to let people know what they are doing. It was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams.

Twitter accused of hypocrisy over Trump tweets

Twitter is a social networking site that was created in 2006. Users send “tweets” to let people know what they are doing. It was created by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. Prior to building the service, they were working on a podcast directory called Odeo.

Odeo was a directory and search destination website for RSS-syndicated audio and video. It employed tools that enabled users to create, record, and share podcasts with a simple Adobe Flash-based interface.

When iTunes 4.9 was released, it ultimately made Odeo irrelevant. The people behind the company went on to create a service called Twttr. Twttr would eventually be called Twitter. iTunes 4.9, believe it or not, ultimately led to the creation of one of the most popular social networks in the world.

The major turning point for service’s popularity was the 2007 South by Southwest Interactive conference. Over the next few years, Twitter began to see rapid growth. For mobile devices, it originally relied upon third-party apps. In 2010, Twitter acquired application developer Atebits. Atebits had built the Twitter app known as Tweetie for the Mac and iPhone. It was renamed as Twitter and released for free.

Over the years, the apps have seen various revisions. There are currently versions available for iOS while desktop users must either use the web interface or a third party app like Tweetbot or Twitterrific.

Mozi is a new social media app for people who don’t want a new social media app

Mozi is a new social media app for people who don't like social media | Screengrabs

Plenty of people have tried to replace Twitter/X, but only a few new social media apps have achieved any traction, notably Threads and Bluesky.

But a new app created by Twitter co-founder Ev Williams isn’t trying to replace those, but instead do one of the things I most value about social media, and absolutely nothing else …

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Social media ban for kids – other countries likely to follow

Social media ban for kids – other countries likely to follow | Teenage girl using a smartphone

Note: This report contains links to reports about teenage suicides

Australia has followed France in imposing a social media ban for kids, and other countries are expected to follow. The French government is now pushing for an EU-wide ban.

Social media platforms are of course pushing back as they face losing a demographic seen as key to their future, and questions are being raised about how the ban will be enforced …

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Australia banning social media use by kids; 9to5Mac readers want the same in the US [U]

Should we ban social media use by kids? | Close-up of a teen using a smartphone

Update: Australia has now voted to ban social media use by children under the age of 16. In a 9to5Mac reader poll on the issue, the vast majority of you thought the US should do the same – see the end of the piece.

The impact of social media use by kids is perhaps one of the hottest topics in tech. There’s significant evidence that social media apps like Instagram can be harmful to the mental health of children, while others argue that it can also enable social connection.

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X officially blocked in Brazil; court demands Apple remove it from the App Store [U]

X Twitter

Following a dispute between Elon Musk and the Brazilian Supreme Court, the social network X has been officially banned from Brazil as of this Friday evening. As a result, the court is now demanding that Apple remove X from the Brazilian App Store – something that is yet to happen.

Update: As the story unfolds, the Brazilian court has now softened the ban on X and no longer requires Apple and Google to remove the app from their respective stores. However, access to the social network is still blocked in the country. You can read the original story below.

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Security Bite: X quietly adds option to keep its third-rate AI product Grok from scraping your posts and interactions

X now scrapping posts to train Grok AI

Heads up! Elon Musk’s social platform X (formerly Twitter) has quietly added an opt-out toggle to keep its AI chatbot Grok from data scraping your posts, as well as any interactions you have with it. The setting to allow data for training is enabled by default and buried only within the web version of X. Here’s how to find it…


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Unfollow Everything lawsuit could change the way we use social media apps

Unfollow Everything | Back of a man looking out to sea

A court is being asked to decide whether or not Meta has a legal obligation to allow the use of Unfollow Everything – a browser tool which effectively empties your Facebook feed.

The idea behind the tool is that instead of being sucked into an effectively endless feed of posts from every friend, group, and page you have ever followed, you get to proactively choose the posts you read …

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Apple’s ad transparency tools don’t properly reveal paid influence, says Mozilla report

Apple's ad transparency tools Mozilla | Eyeglasses resting on MacBook

Apple’s ad transparency tools aren’t sufficient to investigate issues like paid influence, says a new report, which also scored the effectiveness of 11 other tech companies’ tools.

Five companies – including social network X and Microsoft’s Bing search engine – scored close to zero, while Apple got a yellow rating indicating “big gaps” in the information provided …

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No longer possible to hide the blue badge of shame on X [U]

X blue checkmarks held in an artificial white hand

Ah, the saga of X’s blue checkmarks! Originally a sign that someone was who they claimed to be, and later sold so that cryptocurrency scammers could see their posts boosted, the company is now coming full circle with some journalists.

Update: After a number of journalist accounts got unwanted blue checkmarks, Twitter has now made it impossible to hide it – see update at end …

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Grok AI chatbot | Abstract image of masked figure against colorful background

Grok AI chatbot coming to all premium X subscribers this week

The Grok AI chatbot, which was previously going to be exclusive to X’s top-tier Premium+ subscribers, will instead be coming to all premium subscribers this week.

The move is likely geared to boosting revenue in the face of falling usage and an exodus of advertisers, but it’s leading some Premium+ subscribers to question what they are now getting for their money …

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Threads joining the fediverse; Trending posts fully rolling out in the US

Threads joining the fediverse | Interconnected cotton threads

We’ve known for a while that Threads is joining the fediverse, and parent company Meta has now provided a preview of how things will work.

The concept of the fediverse is to network together individual social media platforms, such that you can post once on one of them, and then share your post on other services …

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PSA: X audio and video calls probably don’t use strong encryption

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X audio and video calls started rolling out last year, in a feature nobody appeared to ask for and few seem to want. We previously shared how to deactivate the feature, and now it seems there’s another reason to do so …

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