Meta is abandoning the use of independent fact checkers on Facebook and Instagram, replacing them with X-style “community notes” where commenting on the accuracy of posts is left to users.

In a video posted alongside a blog post by the company on Tuesday, chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said third-party moderators were “too politically biased” and it was “time to get back to our roots around free expression”.

The move comes as Zuckerberg and other tech executives seek to improve relations with US President-elect Donald Trump before he takes office later this month.

Trump and his Republican allies have criticised Meta for its fact-checking policy, calling it censorship of right-wing voices.

Facebook has yet to confirm whether all its issues have been resolved.

“Thanks for bearing with us! We’re 99% of the way there – just doing some last checks. We apologize to those who’ve been affected by the outage,” Meta, which owns the apps, said on X.

Over 22,000 people reported issues with Facebook on Wednesday evening and over 18,000 struggled to use WhatsApp, according to outage-tracking site Downdetector.

Problems with the apps were reported in the UK, parts of Europe, Asia, Australia, South America, and the US.

“And we’re back, happy chatting!” WhatsApp said on X.

“Andddd we’re back – sorry for the wait, and thanks for bearing with us,” Instagram said.

The outages started around 18:00 GMT on Wednesday, according to Downdetector. Its numbers are based on reports of outages and the actual number of users affected may vary considerably.

Soon after users reported issues, Meta said it was aware of a “technical issue” that was “impacting some users’ ability to access our apps” and said it was working to fix things as soon as possible.

A variety of issues were reported including not being able to use the apps at all or feeds not refreshing for certain users.

“We’re aware of some issues accessing WhatsApp. We’re actively working on a solution and starting to see a return to normal for most people. We expect things to be back to normal shortly,” WhatsApp said around the same time.

Meta’s platforms are some of the most popular in the world. Facebook has over three billion active monthly users.

The biggest outage Meta experienced was in 2021 when founder Mark Zuckerberg apologised for the disruption caused.

On that occasion, Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp and Instagram services went down for almost six hours.

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This is a generalized issue that started showing on people’s devices in the early hours of the United States. However, this is an issue that has been reported to users worldwide.

Many who attempted to get into their accounts were quick to note that they couldn’t log into their accounts, causing mass reactions after it was reported.

Initially, it was thousands of users but that quickly turned into millions. But why did this happen only to the Meta apps?

According to multiple reports, the apps Facebook and Instagram were hit by a bug that doesn’t allow people to log into their accounts. This bug appeared according to Downdetector with an initial 90,000 reports that it was down but the numbers grew exponentially not long after that.

Currently, there has been no report from Meta that mentions updates on when this issue might be resolved. But every time this happens, it usually doesn’t take too long to be fixed.

Usually, Meta apps don’t have these types of problems but we can hopefully have some news to when this bug might be fixed.

The Threads app is also reportedly down

Alongside Facebook, Messenger, and Instagram, the Threads app is also reportedly down. Meaning that all Meta apps and also Whatsapp are currently down. Most users who also have an X account were quick to jump on the app to post their memes about the current malfunction.

The scary part was for users who still didn’t know this happened and thought they were being hacked as soon as they couldn’t log into their accounts. We will update this article as soon as all apps return to normal. This is still a developing story.

The outage has sparked frustration among users, many of whom have taken to social media, particularly Twitter, to voice their complaints and share their experiences.

Reports of the outage began surfacing on various online platforms, with users encountering error messages when attempting to access Facebook and Instagram.

The disruption appears to be affecting users globally, leading to speculation about the cause of the outage.

Meanwhile, Facebook and Instagram are yet to officially comment on the issue.

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The app, which is called Threads and is available for pre-order on the Apple App Store, will be linked to Instagram.

Screengrabs show a dashboard that looks similar to Twitter. Meta describes Threads as a “text based conversation app”.

The move is the latest in a rivalry between Meta boss Mark Zuckerberg and Twitter owner Elon Musk.

Last month, the pair agreed to a physical fight, though it is unclear how serious the two men were about actually holding a bout.

“Thank goodness they’re so sanely run”, Mr Musk responded to a tweet about Threads, in an apparent fresh swipe at Mr Zuckerberg.

Meanwhile, Twitter has said that the popular user dashboard, TweetDeck will go behind a paywall in 30 days time.

The move is the latest push by Mr Musk as he tries to get users to sign up to Twitter’s subscription service, Twitter Blue.

On Saturday, the multi-billionaire restricted the number of tweets users could see, citing extreme “data scraping”.

It appears from Meta’s Threads app that it will be a free service – and there will be no restrictions on how many posts a user can see.

“Threads is where communities come together to discuss everything from the topics you care about today to what’ll be trending tomorrow” the description on the App Store says.

Pictures show screengrabs from the app, that look almost identical to Twitter.

Threads will also hoover up data on your phone, including location data, purchases and browsing history.

Several apps that bear a striking resemblance to Twitter have sprung up in recent years – such as Donald Trump’s Truth Social and Mastodon.

Another similar app, Bluesky claimed to have seen “record” traffic after Mr Musk’s move to restrict usage at the weekend.

However, Threads could be the biggest threat faced by Twitter to date.

Mark Zuckerberg has a history of borrowing other company’s ideas – and making them work.

Meta’s Reels is widely seen as a TikTok copy, while Stories looks similar to Snapchat.

Meta has the resources to compete with Twitter. Threads will be part of the Instagram platform, so it will also be connected to hundreds of millions of accounts. It’s not starting from zero, as other would-be rivals have had to do.

Although Mr Musk has been praised in some quarters for his commitment to free speech, he has also alienated some users.

Mr Zuckerberg will hope he can pull enough disenchanted users away from Twitter to create a genuine alternative.

As shown on her Instagram account, the 30-year-old singer has approximately 380 million followers. While Instagram followers are subject to change, Jenner appears to have the same follower count as Gomez.

When looking at the source code for both Gomez and Jenner’s Instagram profiles, Gomez’s follower count appears to be closer to 416 million while The Kardashians star’s count appears to be closer to 408 million followers.

On Twitter, many fans have praised the “Rare” singer for taking the spot as the most followed woman on the app.

“And everything is once again right in the world. The queen is back on her deserved throne!” one person tweeted.

“The real queen of Instagram is back!!” another wrote, while a third added: “DESERVED.”

Over the years, Gomez has shared her thoughts about social media and how it could be toxic. During an interview with Vanity Fair published earlier this month, she spoke out about stepping back from social media.

“People can call me ugly or stupid and I’m like, Whatever. But these people get detailed. They write paragraphs that are so specific and mean,” she said. “I would constantly be crying. I constantly had anxiety…I couldn’t do it anymore. It was a waste of my time.”

She also explained that the only social media app she has on her phone is TikTok since she “finds it to be a little less hostile.”

“There are wonderful things about social media—connecting with fans, seeing how happy and excited they are and their stories,” she said. “But usually that’s filtered through [for me now]. I created a system. Everything I do I send to my assistant who posts them. As far as comments, my team will put together a few things that are encouraging.”

In April 2022, the Wizards of Waverly Place star also revealed that she took a four year break from the internet, which included Instagram, and described how beneficial that was for her.

“It has changed my life completely. I am happier, I am more present, I connect more with people,” she said at the time, while appearing on Good Morning America. “I understand how powerful the internet is, and in so many ways it’s done the best things for the world.”

Along with Gomez and Jenner, some of the most followed female celebrities on Instagram include Ariana Grande, who has 357 million followers, Kim Kardashian, who has 346 million followers, and Beyoncé, who has 293 million followers.

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Meta Verified will cost $11.99 (£9.96) a month on web, or $14.99 for iPhone users.

It will be available in Australia and New Zealand this week.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta chief executive, said the move will improve security and authenticity on the social media apps.

The move comes after Elon Musk, owner of Twitter, implemented the premium Twitter Blue subscription in November 2022.

Meta’s paid subscription service is not yet available for businesses, but any individual can pay for verification.

Badges – or “blue ticks”- have been used as verification tools for high-profile accounts to signify their authenticity.

The subscription would give paying users a blue badge, increased visibility of their posts, protection from impersonators and easier access to customer service, Meta said in a post on their website.

The company told the BBC the change would not affect previously verified accounts, but noted there would be an increase in visibility for some smaller users who become verified thanks to the paid feature.

Allowing paying users access to a blue tick has previously caused trouble for other social media platforms.

Twitter’s pay-for verification feature was paused last November when people started impersonating big brands and celebrities by paying for the badge.

Meta said Instagram and Facebook usernames will have to match a government supplied ID document to be granted verification, and users will have to have a profile picture that includes their face.

Other websites like Reddit, YouTube and Discord similarly use subscription-based models.

Meta has not yet specified when the feature will be rolled out to other countries, although Mr Zuckerberg said in a post it would be “soon”.

In November, the company announced 11,000 job losses as a result of over-investment during the Covid-19 pandemic.

At the time, Mr Zuckerberg said he had predicted an increase in Meta’s growth based on the rise it had over the pandemic, but that ultimately did not happen.

“Many people predicted this would be a permanent acceleration,” he wrote, “I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments.”

Instead he said “macroeconomic downturn” and “increased competition” caused revenue to be much lower than expected.

“I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that,” he said at the time.

She deleted all her posts on Instagram following a spiritual encounter she had that got her tuning away from her “slay queen” lifestyle to dancing in churches during fellowship.

The actress confirmed that she has sold all the property she acquired in her past life, adding that, she dashed out all the money she got to save her soul.

Fast-forward, she has returned to the popular digital platform but still maintains she hasn’t turned away from her maker and Christlike doctrines.

From November 28 to December 21st, Moesha shared five posts on Instagram that have since garnered over almost 100k likes.

Check out the posts below:

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A post shared by Maurecia Babiinoti Boduong (@moeshaboduong)

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A post shared by Maurecia Babiinoti Boduong (@moeshaboduong)

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The long-running complaint concerned children’s data – particularly their phone numbers and email addresses.

Some reportedly upgraded to business accounts to access analytics tools such as profile visits, without realising this made more of their data public.

Instagram’s owner, Meta, said it planned to appeal against the decision. It is the third fine handed to the company by the regulator.

“We adopted our final decision last Friday and it does contain a fine of €405m [£349m],” Ireland’s Data Protection Commissioner (DPC) said.

‘Engaged fully’

A Meta official told BBC News: “This inquiry focused on old settings that we updated over a year ago and we’ve since released many new features to help keep teens safe and their information private.

“Anyone under 18 automatically has their account set to private when they join Instagram, so only people they know can see what they post and adults can’t message teens who don’t follow them.

“While we’ve engaged fully with the DPC throughout their inquiry, we disagree with how this fine was calculated and intend to appeal it.

“We’re continuing to carefully review the rest of the decision.”

‘Major breach’

The DPC regulates large technology companies with European headquarters in the Republic of Ireland.

It has never given such a large fine for a breach of the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation.

But last year, it fined WhatsApp €225m, while Luxembourg’s data authority fined Amazon a record €746m.

National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) child-safety-online policy head Andy Burrows said of Instagram’s fine: “This was a major breach that had significant safeguarding implications and the potential to cause real harm to children using Instagram.

“The ruling demonstrates how effective enforcement can protect children on social media and underlines how regulation is already making children safer online.

“It’s now over to the new prime minister to keep the promise to give children the strongest possible protections by delivering the Online Safety Bill in full and without delay.”

Among the new features was an increase in recommended video content, in a similar style to rival app TikTok.

The display and feeds were criticised as people felt they were not seeing photos from friends and family as much.

Meta, Instagram’s parent company, said it wanted to “take the time” to get the changes right.

The revamp of Instagram towards more video content is believed to have been ignited by the soaring popularity of competitor TikTok – where users post and watch more video as opposed to static photographs.

According to data from digital analytics company Sensor Tower, the TikTok app has now been downloaded more than three billion times around the world – the first app not owned by Meta to reach this landmark.

Instagram boss Adam Mosseri told The Verge that the test version of the revamped app would be phased out within weeks.

“I’m glad we took a risk – if we’re not failing every once in a while, we’re not thinking big enough or bold enough,” he said.

“But we definitely need to take a big step back and regroup. [When] we’ve learned a lot, then we come back with some sort of new idea or iteration. So we’re going to work through that.”

Mr Mosseri had previously posted a video explaining the move towards video, saying that full-screen videos would be promoted over photographs.

But after some backlash, he followed it up with a series of tweets saying he wanted to “continue supporting photos”.

One thing I hear a lot is people asking to see more friend content in Feed. I’d love for there to be more friend content in feed, but all the growth in photos and videos from friends has been in stories and in DMs.

— Adam Mosseri (@mosseri) July 26, 2022

In response to Mr Mosseri’s Twitter video, US model Chrissy Teigen said that users “don’t wanna make videos” and are seeing lower engagement for photos.

Reality TV stars Kim Kardashian and Kylie Jenner also shared an online “petition” to “Make Instagram Instagram again” on their stories.

Toni Tone, author and content creator, posted how frustrated she was with the changes and how Instagram was so much better when she received content from the people she chose to follow.

Instagram is trying so hard to compete with TikTok that they’re trying to become another TikTok. If I wanted to see video after video from random pages I don’t follow, I wouldn’t be on Instagram. Do what we need from you, and bring back the photos of our actual friends!!!

— TONI TONE (@t0nit0ne) July 24, 2022

A Meta spokesperson told the BBC: “Based on our findings and community feedback, we’re pausing the full-screen test on Instagram so we can explore other options, and we’re temporarily decreasing the number of recommendations you see in your feed so we can improve the quality of your experience.

“We recognise that changes to the app can be an adjustment, and while we believe that Instagram needs to evolve as the world changes, we want to take the time to make sure we get this right.”

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The Atlanta native has unfollowed his “Monster” collaborator after her “clown” shade at the Essence Festival.

As captured in a screenshot, the Yeezy designer is no longer following the “Anaconda” hitmaker as of Monday, July 11. Nicki, meanwhile, still follows Ye on her own personal account.

While it’s unclear when Ye clicked the unfollow button, his move comes a week after Nicki appeared to throw shade at him during her set at the Essence Festival in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Taking the stage at the Caesars Superdome on July 1, she performed her Lil Baby-assisted single “Do We Have a Problem?” before launching into fan favourites such as “We Go Up”, “Did It On ’em” and “Beez in the Trap”.

However, when her DJ cued up “Monster”, Ye’s 2010 single where Nicki delivered a guest feature, she stopped the show.

In a clip of the show that night, Nicki said, “Wait, hold up, hold up! Hold on, hold on!” She went on telling the audience, “A monster though! A monster though! But we don’t f**k with clowns,” seemingly referring to the 45-year-old emcee.

While Nicki didn’t mention Ye’s name during her set at the festival, many believed that it was aimed that the “Hurricane” rapper since he recently hopped on Cardi B‘s new song “Hot S**t”, which also features Lil Durk.

Nicki and Cardi have been feuding since 2017, when the latter broke out on the rap scene and was instantly compared to the “Bang Bang” rapper.

The tension culminated in an altercation at New York Fashion Week in 2018, during which Cardi reportedly approached Nicki about “spreading lies” and Cardi threw her shoe at Nicki.

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The Meta-owned app is testing video selfies with facial analysis software as a new age-verification method.

Some users on Instagram try to skirt its 13+ age rule by editing their date of birth to make them appear over 18.

But US teens attempting this will now be given three ways to verify age: upload ID, ask three adult users to vouch for them or take a video selfie.

Meta says it hopes the new methods will ensure teens have an “age-appropriate experience” on Instagram.

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The tech giant has previously faced criticism over teen and child safety on its platforms.

Several US states probed Instagram last year over children’s experiences on the photo-sharing app, in response to leaks from Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen.

Will Gardner OBE, chief executive of Childnet and director of the UK Safer Internet Centre, says the trial is encouraging: “The potential is there to try and help protect children from content which isn’t for them and make their internet experience more age-appropriate.”

5Rights Foundation, a UK organisation campaigning for child safety in the digital environment, says such efforts are “long overdue”.

Platforms should “leave behind the ‘don’t look don’t see attitude’ that has led to millions of children being put at risk”, 5Rights says, adding that “simply knowing the age of your users is not enough.”

Parents and guardians of teen Instagram users were given additional tools to supervise their child’s experience on Instagram earlier this month.

They can now set up time limits and view details of any reports their child makes on the platform.

Teens will also be “nudged” to look at other content if repeatedly viewing the same topics on Instagram’s explore page, and encouraged to “take a break” if continuously scrolling through reels.

Video selfies have become a popular way for digital platforms – such as online banking apps – to verify users’ age or identity.

Instagram currently uses video selfies as one way account holders can verify their identity if they get locked out of their account.

Meta has partnered with UK digital identification provider Yoti, whose technology estimates age by analysing human faces and facial features.

Yoti says its algorithm, trained on anonymous people’s facial images and their date of birth, cannot individually identify users or anything about them, except their age.

Its latest white paper, published in May, said the technology was accurate for six to 12-year-olds with an error range of 1.36 years – and an error range of 1.52 years for 13 to 19-year-olds.

Meta says both companies will delete the image once a user’s age has been confirmed.

Meanwhile, social vouching allows users to ask three mutual followers to confirm their age. Those being asked to confirm how old a user is must be at least 18, and cannot be vouching for any other users at the time.

Dr Ysabel Gerrard, lecturer in digital media and society at the University of Sheffield, says Instagram’s new age-verification methods are a welcome addition to just asking users to upload ID.

But she says relying on age-verification tools as a way to protect young people online can overlook why they actually try to create adult accounts in the first place.

“A lot of them are saying they’re 18 on Instagram not to do bad things or view bad content,” Dr Gerrard says.

“Being technically registered as an adult makes them feel safe because they don’t think they’re going to be targeted.”

For Dr Gerrard, Instagram’s new verification mechanisms raise larger questions about what helps children to feel safe on social media platforms.

“Pretending to be an adult is one of them. It’s a harsh reality, but we can’t pretend it’s not happening.”

West violated the platform’s policies on hate speech, bullying and harassment, according to Meta.

He is restricted from posting, commenting and other actions for 24 hours and the company will take further action if necessary, the spokesperson said.

West posted a slur directed at Noah on Wednesday, after the talk show host had addressed the rapper’s treatment of his former wife Kim Kardashian and her boyfriend comedian Pete Davidson in a “Daily Show” segment Tuesday.

“You may not feel sorry for Kim because she’s rich and famous,” Noah said in the segment.

“But what she’s going through is terrifying to watch and shines a spotlight on what so many women go through when they choose to leave.”

In West’s post, since deleted by Instagram, he replaced the lyrics to “Kumbaya” with a racial epithet.

Prior to the removal of the post, Noah had responded by expressing his admiration for West as an artist and his sincere concern for him and his family.

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The five times Ballon d’Or holder is now making over 1.7 million per every post on Instagram after reaching that amount on his social media platform.

The Manchester United star became the most followed account on Instagram just a day after his 37th birthday, surpassing the makeup mogul, Kylie Jenner’s whopping 309 million followers.

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Betting experts OLBG have revealed how much the Portuguese star could be earning from one social media post.

Back in September 2021, Ronaldo had 237 million followers which resulted in an estimate of £1,019,100 per post.

With his current 400 million followers, Ronaldo’s earnings rise to £1,720,000 – over triple his £480k weekly wage at Manchester United.    

The former Galactico’s following has jumped a huge 163 million in just five months with an average of 10 million likes per post.

The 37-year-old came third on the Forbes Highest-Paid Athletes for 2021 list, and with his increased revenue from the social media site, it could see Ronaldo rise even higher this year. 

His recent posts on Instagram include photos with his family, training pictures, and snaps from his travels abroad. 

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A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano)

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A post shared by Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano)

Courtney Ireland-Ainsworth, who was then 19, created up to 30 false profiles before telling police her ex-partner Louis Jolly was behind the messages.

The “cunning” teen alleged he threatened to stab her and warned: “She is getting a f***ing blade in her chest.”

Ireland-Ainsworth, now 20, had made 10 police statements accusing Lous of harassing and stalking her.

This led to him being arrested six times and spending 81 hours in custody, including being remanded overnight, LiverpoolECHO reports.

Louis was charged with assault and stalking, hit with a stalking protection order, bailed on a home curfew with an electronic tag, and even lost his job, Liverpool Crown Court heard.

Recorder Ian Harris told Ireland-Ainsworth: “You created an entirely fictional but superficially credible web of poisonous deceit for over five months.”

Louis, 22, said they were together for two years but split up on “okay terms” in October 2019.

Ireland-Ainsworth then started dating a man named Declan Rice.

The now-20-year-old, from Runcorn, then began her “deliberate and malevolent lies”, the court heard.

Paul Blasbery, prosecuting, said she made numerous calls to police from July 15 to December 13, 2020, and provided screenshots of messages and the names of Instagram accounts, which she attributed to her victim.

Louis always maintained his innocence as the court heard the defendant accused him of calling from withheld numbers, stalking her, her friends and new partner, filming her walking down the street and sending her the video, verbally and physically abusing her, making false claims she used cocaine, smashing items in her house and putting a brick through her nan’s window and threatening to stab her and her boyfriend.

Recorder Harris said: “You stated after he had been arrested the stalking became worse.

“You provided images of damage to property and you yourself, as to where you said he knifed you with a Stanley knife, and there was a scar on your chest.”

Ireland-Ainsworth’s mum rang police on November 15, saying Louis had threatened to stab her online.

Detectives had requested data from Facebook, which owns Instagram, but it had taken some time to gather.

In that time, Louis was hit with an interim stalking protection order on December 4, and bailed for six weeks with an electronically tagged home curfew, between 7 pm and 7 am daily.

Ireland-Ainsworth accused him of breaching the order and her mum called police in December 2020 to report this.

The data that came back showed that at least 17 Instagram accounts were created using two of Ireland-Ainsworth’s email addresses and IP addresses connected to her home and mobile phone.

She was arrested and interviewed in December 2020, when she confessed before the Crown Prosecution Service discontinued stalking and assault allegations against Louis.

Mr Blasbery said: “She attempted to minimise during that interview what she had done. She eventually admitted it.

“She stated her ex-boyfriend Mr Jolly was hassling her, but in order to make the police believe it she sent false messages to the police so that they would take it seriously.”

Ireland-Ainsworth, who had no previous convictions, admitted perverting the course of justice.

Jim Smith, defending, said his client was 19 at the time, immature and diagnosed as suffering from “complex” post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

He said: “She would have handled that breakdown [in the relationship] substantially different than any other individual who was not subject to a mental disorder.”

Mr Smith said Ireland-Ainsworth worked at DHL Supply Chain and was a “very respected member of that team” and “loved and respected” by family and friends.

Mr Smith concluded: “The defendant and her family are truly sorry for what has occurred in this case.”

Recorder Harris said her allegations “all of them untrue” had an “absolutely shattering effect” on the victim and his family.

The judge said: “He’s become a shell of the man he used to be.”

Recorder Harris told Ireland-Ainsworth: “You in my judgement involved your boyfriend Declan Rice and your mother and grandmother in making statements to the police… you involved them in your dishonesty.”

He continued: “I find a lot of thought and planning went into this criminal enterprise, which had hallmarks of sophistication and cunning about it.

“Even after you were arrested and charged, you continued to make derogatory assertions against Mr Jolly.”

Recorder Harris reduced Ireland-Ainsworth’s sentence because of her mental health difficulties and gave her full credit for her guilty plea.

Locking her up for 10 months and making a 10-year restraining order, he added: “I extend considerable sympathy to the Jolly family for what they have had to suffer at your hands.”

On Tuesday, the company launched its Take a Break tool, which will encourage users to spend some time away from the platform after they’ve been scrolling for a certain period. The feature, announced in September, will first come to users in the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia, and to all users in the months ahead.

Users can turn on the feature in “Settings” and select if they want to be alerted after using the platform for 10 minutes, 20 minutes or 30 minutes. They’ll then get a full-screen alert telling them to close out of the app, suggesting they take a deep breath, write something down, check a to-do list or listen to a song.

CNN Business tested the feature ahead of launch; while it’s a step in the right direction, there’s still room for improvement. For example, users have to stay on the platform for one continuous session. If the app closes while you run to the bathroom or the screen turns off while you briefly browse Netflix, the timer resets. After the prompt encourages a break, the onus is on the user to resist hitting the big “done” at the bottom of the message to return to the app.

Vaishnavi J, Instagram’s head of safety and well-being, said the feature is still in its early stages and will expand its functionality in 2022.

Instagram also said it will take a “stricter approach” to what content it recommends to teenagers and actively nudge them toward different topics if they’ve been dwelling on something — any type of content — for too long. While the company said it’ll share more about the feature soon, a screenshot shared with CNN Business ahead of the announcement revealed that topics such as travel destinations, architecture and nature photography will be used to divert attention. The feature will launch next year.

Bottom of Form

The features build on Instagram’s existing time management tools, such asm one that lets people know when they’ve reached the total amount of time they want to spend on Instagram each day. The company said it is also testing a new way for people to manage their Instagram activity in one place, allowing them to bulk delete photos and videos they’ve posted, and previous likes and comments.

“While available to everyone, I think this tool is particularly important for teens to more fully understand what information they’ve shared on Instagram, what is visible to others, and to have an easier way to manage their digital footprint,” Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, wrote in Tuesday’s blog post.

The company is also working on an educational hub for parents with tips from experts to help them discuss social media use with their teens, as well as the ability for them to see how much time their kids spend on Instagram and set time limits.

The issue of social media’s impact on teens gained renewed attention this fall after Facebook whistleblower Frances Haugen leaked hundreds of internal documents, some of which showed the company knew how Instagram can damage mental health and body image, especially among teenage girls.

Facebook has repeatedly tried to discredit Haugen and said her testimony in Congress and reports on the documents mischaracterize the company’s actions. But the outcry from Haugen’s disclosures pressured the company to rethink the launch of an Instagram app for children under 13.

The disclosures also helped spur a series of congressional hearings about how tech products impact kids, featuring execs from Facebook, TikTok and Snapchat’s parent company, Snap. On Wednesday, Mosseri will appear before a Senate subcommittee as lawmakers question the app’s impact on young users’ mental health.

Members of Congress have shown rare bipartisanship in criticizing tech companies on the issue. Some lawmakers are now pushing for legislation intended to increase children’s privacy online and reduce the apparent addictiveness of various platforms — though it remains unclear when or if such legislation will pass.

Early last year, TikTok introduced new features to let users keep tabs on their screen time, such as videos from top creators that appear in feeds to encourage users to take a break and do something in real life.

Jung’s follower count has soared from 400,000 before the launch of the series to 14.7 million followers at the time of writing.

Playing the role of North Korean defector Park Hae-soo in what’s on track to become the most-watched show on Netflix, Jung won over the hearts of fans in her very first acting role.

Making her name as a fashion model, Jung worked hard to prepare for her role as a storied pickpocket.

“I watched a lot of documentaries about North Korean defectors. I also practiced speaking in a North Korean accent with a teacher, and studied a lot,” Jung told W Korea.

Jung was initially hesitant about herself as an actress and playing Sae-Byeok in the movie, but quickly grew into the role.

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“More than anything, I think I was able to accept Sae-byeok without any big difficulties because I am similar to her. In 2016, I left Korea to further my modeling career overseas, and I spent a lot of time alone. At the time, the emotion that I felt the most was loneliness. That feeling of loneliness while trying to persevere and live isn’t all that different,” she said.

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A post shared by HoYeon Jung(Chung) (@hoooooyeony)

With all the newfound popularity, it sometimes leads to feelings of feeling overwhelmed, but the actress maintains a positive attitude, sharing with The Herald Korea how she’s handling the sudden stardom.

“I was chatting with Park Hae-soo the other day, and he said, Let’s keep our feet on the ground. Whenever I feel overwhelmed, I live with the thought that my feet are on the ground,” Jung shared in an interview with The Herald.

“I am well-aware of how much work I have to do and learn to become a better actor and I try not to dwell too much on the success of Squid Game. For the fans, I think it is best to show Jung Ho-yeon improved as an actor, in my next work.”

The three apps – which are all owned by Facebook, and run on shared infrastructure – all have completely stopped working.

Other products that are part of the same family of apps, such as Facebook Workplace, also stopped working.

Visitors to the Facebook website simply saw an error page or a message that their browser could not connect.

The WhatsApp and Instagram apps continued to work but did not show new content, including any message sent or received.

Meanwhile, Whatsapp has issued a statement confirming they are having a major update which is essentially causing the outage.

Facebook’s outages happen rarely but tend to be vast in their impact, not least because they affect three of the world’s biggest apps.

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The company is often cryptic about the causes of any issue and does not tend to explain them even after they are fixed.

In 2019, for instance, it suffered its biggest outage in years – and said it had “triggered an issue” during “routine maintenance operations”.

In a leaked transcript published in The Verge in 2019, Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg noted that such outages are a “big deal”. Any problem can often lead people to start using competitors and noted that it can take “months” to win back trust and get people back on Facebook’s platforms – if they come back at all.

She is captured in a photo cooling off in Dubai where she asked fans to decide for her if she should visit the pool or beach.

Showing off some skin, some of her fans including celebrities such as Prince David Osei, Yvonne Okoro, and Moesha Boduong among others reacted to the post.

Shall we do pool or beach??, was the caption accompanying the photo.

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Check out the post below:

Akuapem Poloo, as she is popularly known, is back to her usual self on Instagram, continuing her drama from where she left off.

Barely 24 hours after she was bailed, the actress has organized a press release, followed by a social media ‘thank you tour’.

In the first five posts, she made on Instagram, two were in relation to her press conference.

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A post shared by Rosemond Alade Brown (@akuapem_poloo)

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A post shared by Rosemond Alade Brown (@akuapem_poloo)

The third was a photo of herself along with some motivational words to eulogize herself for her strength.

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A post shared by Rosemond Alade Brown (@akuapem_poloo)

And the last two, a self-made video to thank her well wishers and another specially for Kuami Eugene who took off his braids to demand her freedom.

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A post shared by Rosemond Alade Brown (@akuapem_poloo)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Rosemond Alade Brown (@akuapem_poloo)

The Rapperholic took his 4.3 million followers aback when he deleted thousands of posts he had created since he started using the app.

The two posts that survived the heat are ones he posted a week ago, a photo of him in the company of British rapper Giggs, and another photo of himself flaunting his plush car,

It is unclear the rapper’s intent for deleting all photos of his family, music, trips and property from the photo social networking platform.

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However, his deleting spree did not affect his following and followers as that slot remains intact.

Other social media platforms, including his Twitter, still bears all his photos and tweets.

During her live session, the former ‘Love & Hip Hop’ reality star was seen dancing to Cardi B’s ‘Up,’ and attempting to hold her ‘sunken butt’ in place.

As she made an attempt to start twerking, her entire butt dropped to an unnaturally low level.

On noticing the mishap, she immediately moved awkwardly and tried to hold her butt up with her hand.

In the past, K. Michelle was vocal about the health issues she experienced after her butt implants.

She also documented the removal of her implants and the struggles after the procedure.

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The life-changing opportunity has forced Shatta Wale to live up to his new international status, thus deleting all his posts on social media as he starts afresh.

His over 1,000 posts were all cleared with the exception of his photo taken with Beyoncé during the video shoot for their ‘Already’ banger.

The photo, which was uploaded a week ago, is an appreciating message to Beyonce and her team for believing in his talent.

To make his page even cleaner, Shatta Wale also unfollowed all his contacts except Beyonce and role model Vybz Kartel.

 The Oversight Board will review certain content decisions by Facebook and Instagram and make binding decisions based on respect for freedom of expression and human rights. 

She joins two other Africans – Julie Owono, a digital rights advocate and Executive Director of Internet Sans Frontières from Cameroon and Maina Kiai, a human rights activist and Director of Human Rights Watch’s Global Alliances and Partnerships programme from Kenya – on the 20-member Oversight Board.

The human rights lawyer, together with her team, will tackle increasingly complex and contentious debates about what types of content should and should not be permitted on Facebook and Instagram and who should decide.

The Board will prioritise cases that potentially impact many users, are of critical importance to public discourse, or raise questions about Facebook’s policies. Decisions made by the Board must be implemented by Facebook, as long as they do not violate the law.

Oversight Board Members are independent from the company, funded by an independent trust and cannot be removed by Facebook based on their decisions.  

Members contact directly with the Oversight Board, are not Facebook employees and cannot be removed by Facebook. Members will serve for a maximum of three three-year terms and case panels will be confidential and assigned at random

Afia Asantewaa Asare-Kyei

She is the Programme Manager at the Open Society Initiative for West Africa, where she focuses on human rights, women’s rights, criminal justice, access to information and media freedom issues, and previously worked at Save the Children and the United States Agency for International Development.

She is a human rights lawyer and development professional with extensive experience in strategy development, programme design, grant management, research and stakeholder engagement in Southern, Western and Central Africa.

Of Ghanaian and South African citizenship, she has a varied background in supporting and developing transformational social programmes and advocacy strategies through the provision of technical advice and input into policy and programming of civil society organisations on issues like access to information, freedom of expression, human rights and substantive justice, especially as they relate to the inclusion, equality of opportunity and empowerment of vulnerable and under-represented groups such as women, children, persons with disabilities and LGBTIQs.

She has also worked for a number of international development and philanthropic organizations in different capacities in Africa.

She is passionate about Africa, its development and has a working knowledge of African regional mechanisms and institutions.

She is a graduate of the Centre for Human Rights, Faculty of Law, University of Pretoria, South Africa. Her research interests include women, children and disability rights, critical race feminism and socioeconomic rights of the poor.

The rapper who sounded very philosophical with his post said sometimes all a person needed to was to just walk away, regardless of being right or wrong.

Although the BET award-winning rapper didn’t specify what he was ignoring, some of his fans who commented under the post said he was referring to Shatta Wale’s recent allegation and diss song against him.

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Sarkodie had previously, through a tweet, said he thought less about Shatta Wale’s feud.

Since last week, the Ayoo hitmaker has been lambasting Sarkodie following an interview by music producer, Possigee, who said Sarkodie had featured an artiste bigger than ace American rapper Jay-Z.

He later went ahead to drop a song dubbed Little Tip, in which he described Sarkodie as a poor musician who brags on social media to cover up his true nature in life.

But Sarkodie’s recent post tells the true nature of his mind amidst the storm.

Find the post below:

This is how some fans reacted to his post below:

Ronaldo is undoubtedly not just a football legend with many fans cheering him on the pitch but has mass crowd stalking him on social media as well.

Cristiano Ronaldo became the most followed person on Instagram in October 2018 after beating previous record holder American musician and actress, Ariana Grande by 28 million followers.

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He officially comes second to the Instagram app itself which can boast of 300 million followers but ahead of his football rivals Lionel Messi and Neymar.

Excited about this off-pitch milestone, the five time Ballon d’Or award winner made a shot clip of his success journey and to thank humanity for the loving gesture.

Below is a compilation of some celebrity followers on the app:

1. Instagram (@Instagram): 330 million followers.
2. Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano): 200 million followers.
3. Ariana Grande (@arianagrande): 172 million followers.
4. Dwayne Johnson (@therock): 169 million followers.
5. Selena Gómez (@selenagomez): 166 million followers.
6. Kylie Jenner (@kyliejenner): 158 million followers.
7. Kim Kardashian (@kimkardashian): 157 million followers.
8. Lionel Messi (@leomessi): 141 million followers.
9. Beyoncé (@beyonce): 138 million followers.
10. Neymar (@neymarjr): 131 million followers.

The Juventus forward beat out, well, everyone for the mark.

He stands at around 200.2 million followers. The only account he trails is Instagram itself, which has 330.5 million as of Wednesday.

Singer Ariana Grande is third, per Brand Watch, and still has some ground to cover to reach Ronaldo. She has 173.1 million.

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Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson is the second-highest athlete with 170.1 million, though he doesn’t currently compete and could be considered an athlete/actor hybrid.

Lionel Messi of Barcelona ranks eighth with 141.8 million and Paris Saint-Germain striker Neymar is 10th at 132.6 million.

Ronaldo, a five-time Ballon d’or winner, makes an estimated $47.8 million per year, according Buzz Bingo. His soccer salary? It’s estimated at $34 million a year. Each paid post on his Instagram account makes nearly $1 million, Forbes reports.

Messi has the second-highest Instagram income at $23.3 million, per Forbes.

Ronaldo is also the most liked athlete on Facebook with around 122.3 million likes on the site and 124.4 million followers.

The first thing one has to understand is the fact that to request a verified badge, “you must be a public figure, celebrity or brand and must again meet certain account and eligibility requirements,” according to the Instagram Help Centre.

There is no need to pay money to software hackers or tech geniuses to help you verify your page because you can easily do it on your own if you are eligible.

A verified badge is a check that appears next to an Instagram account’s name in search and on the profile.

The badge means Instagram has confirmed that an account is the authentic presence of the public figure, celebrity or global brand it represents.

In order to have your page verified, these are the basic requirements:

• Authentic: Your account must represent a real person, registered business or entity.

• Unique: Your account must be the unique presence of the person or business it represents. Only one account per person or business may be verified, with exceptions for language-specific accounts. Instagram doesn’t verify general interest accounts (example: @puppymemes)

• Complete: Your account must be public and have a bio, profile photo and at least one post. Your profile can’t contain “add me” links to other social media services.

• Notable: Your account must represent a well-known, highly searched for person, brand or entity. Instagram review accounts that are featured in multiple news sources, and they don’t consider paid or promotional content as sources for review.

Those applying are to keep in mind that providing false or misleading information during the verification process will have their badges removed and accounts deleted.

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How to request for a badge:

• Make sure you’re logged in to the account you’re requesting a verified badge for.

• Go to your profile and tap on the settings tab.

• Go to Settings – Account – Request Verification

• Enter your full name and provide the required form of identification (example: government-issued photo ID).

Users are to note that submitting a request doesn’t guarantee that your account will be verified.

What happens after I apply for a verified badge?

Instagram will never request for payment for verification or reach out to ask you to confirm verification.

Once your request has been reviewed, you’ll receive a notification letting you know if your account has been verified or not. If your request is denied, you can submit a new request after 30 days.

Users are to note that, Instagram can remove verified badges at any time, and may take away your badge or disable your account for the following reasons:

• Advertise, transfer or sell your verified badge.
• Use your profile picture, bio or name section to promote other services.
• Attempt to verify your account through a third party.

If your account doesn’t have a verified badge, there are other ways to let people know you’re authentic.

For instance, you can link your Instagram account from your official website, Facebook page, YouTube or Twitter account.

There are others who also seek out PR agencies to help them get mentions in the media which gives some sort of credibility to their account to gain the verification badges.

The social networks plan to ‘age-gate’ several types of sexually explicit content for users across the globe from the beginning of 2020. 

Teenagers under the age of 18 will be banned from viewing sexualised adverts, fictional depictions of sex and artistic portrayals of nudity or sex acts, among others, the Daily Telegraph reports. 

But the restrictions, which are due to come in on both platforms, will rely solely on teenagers inputting their own ages, making it easy for them to lie and view inappropriate content anyway. 

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Under the new measures, underage users will get an error message if they declare they are under 18 and try to load sexual content. 

But with more than 60,000 UK Facebook users under the age of 12 when the age restriction is 13, they could prove fruitless. 

The new rules concern certain types of sexual content, but do not apply to overtly explicit content, which is already widely banned. 

It does not apply to ‘explicitly educational’ sexual images and video or to naked images intended for breastfeeding mothers or cancer survivors. 

Last year the artist Ruben Cordova was permanently banned from Facebook after he uploaded pictures of a nude sculpture. 

Facebook, which also owns Instagram, consulted 25 experts including LGBT, diversity and free speech activists as well child-safety campaigners, on the move. 

Andy Burrows, the NSPCC head of child safety online policy, told MailOnline: ‘It is good to see Facebook taking steps in recognition of the fact that there is content on their platforms that’s unsuitable for children.

‘But these measures look like little more than tinkering around the edges, rather than tackling the more profound clear-cut dangers from grooming and abuse every day on their platforms. 

‘Facebook already has the tech to micro-target ads at under-18s so we simply can’t understand why they won’t use the same tech to put safeguards in place.’ 

The social media photo sharing site recently revealed plans to hide how many people have liked a post for everyone but the owner of it.

Users will no longer be able to see how many people have liked a photo, unless they are the ones posting it – so essentially no-one will be able to brag about how many likes they’re getting.

Many have applauded the decision as one to help people combat the pressures of social media and being ‘successful’ online. Yet Nicki, 36, has said she will refuse to use Instagram if this function is removed because she doesn’t think it makes the app any ‘better’.

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The Superbass singer, who currently has 107 million followers on Instagram, tweeted: “I’m not posting on IG after this week cuz they removing the likes. Hmmmm what should I get into now? ‘Think of all the time I’ll have with my new life.

“They took away your engagements in the first place by disrupting the algorithm. Then they boost it to show you how much better this new iPhone is.

“I mean how much better this new IG feature is. – lemme guess, u don’t believe your iPhone messes up when the new iPhone comes out…”

Nicki isn’t the only celeb weighing in on the discussion.

Kim Kardashian West said she was pleased to see creators of the app discussing plans to remove likes, but pointed out that it could have a negative impact on celebrities and influencers, who often earn a bulk of their money from the amount of followers and interaction they have on a post.

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“It is tricky,” the reality star said. “I think about when I raise my kids: Screen time, phone time, what to post, what not to post. As far as mental health, it’s something that, you know – I think taking the ‘likes’ away and taking that aspect away from it would be really beneficial for people.

“And I know that the Instagram team has been having lots of inner conversations with a bunch of people to get everyone’s take on that and is taking it really seriously.

“And that makes me happy.” Adam Mosseri, Instagram Chief Executive Officer, announced plans to test the new feature last week, when he said he wanted to ‘depressurise’ the site for young people.

She disclosed the dimpled, lumpy appearance of her thigh skin caused her to edit all her bikini photos so her over 70 million followers wouldn’t catch a glimpse of it or probably troll her.

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Taking to Instagram on National Cellulite Day to come out of her “perfect” world, the singer said, “I want this new chapter in my life to be about being authentic to who I am rather than trying to meet someone else’s standards…”

According to Demi Lovato, this has been the biggest fear of her life and she thinks it’s apt to let others know she is not the idea of what beautiful is.

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She received lauds from many industry players for revealing the truth and accepting herself for who she is with the post garnering over 9 million likes on Instagram.

Demi Lovato encouraged people to love themselves.

“This is my biggest fear. A photo of me in a bikini unedited. And guess what, it’s CELLULIT!!!! I’m just literally sooooo tired of being ashamed of my body, editing it (yes the other bikini pics were edited – and I hate that I did that but it’s the truth) so that others think I’m THEIR idea of what beautiful is, but it’s just not me. This is what I got. I want this new chapter in my life to be about being authentic to who I am rather than trying to meet someone else’s standards. So here’s me, unashamed, unafraid and proud to own a body that has fought through so much and will continue to amaze me when I hopefully give birth one day. It’s such a great feeling to be back in tv/film while not stressing myself with a strenuous workout schedule before 14 hour days, or depriving myself from a real birthday cake rather than opting for watermelon & whip cream with candles because I was terrified of REAL cake and was miserable on some crazy diet shit. Anyway, here’s me, RAW, REAL! And I love me. And you should love you too! Now back to the studio.. I’m working on an anthem.. ??????‍ also. Just so everyone’s clear.. I’m not stoked on my appearance BUT I am appreciative of it and sometimes that’s the best I can do. I hope to inspire someone to appreciate their body today too. ? #nationalcelulliteday#celluLIT ???”

See her full post below:

Source: Adomonline.com |Dennis K. Adu | Instagram: @dennis_slym | email: dennis.adu@myjoyonline.com