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Meta is developing new parental supervision tools for Instagram that let parents block their teens from interacting with AI chatbots or specific AI characters. The controls will also provide insights into the topics teens discuss with Meta's AI. The rollout is planned for early next year in English across the United States, United Kingdom, Canada, and Australia. The move follows internal leaks showing inappropriate chatbot conversations with children, prompting investigations by U.S. attorneys general and a Senate subcommittee. Meta has already begun retraining its AI and applying age‑appropriate safeguards such as PG‑13‑guided responses. Leer más

Meta AI now appears in Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and WhatsApp, offering suggestions and comment summaries that many users find intrusive. While the feature cannot be removed entirely, each app provides a way to mute the AI chat and turn off its automatic functions. By accessing the chat settings or privacy options within each platform, users can silence Meta AI, hide its messages, and stop comment summaries from appearing on their posts. These steps give users control over the AI presence without needing to uninstall any apps. Leer más

A new social‑media craze lets users create AI‑generated images of their present self hugging a childhood version of themselves. The "hug your younger self" or "hug baby me" trend, popular on Instagram and TikTok, relies on Google Gemini’s image‑generation capabilities accessed through the Nano Banana tool. Participants upload two solo photos—one current and one from childhood—and craft specific prompts, often invoking Polaroid aesthetics. The resulting pictures are described as realistic, nostalgic, and emotionally resonant, prompting widespread sharing, personal reflection, and plans to use the images as wallpapers or keepsakes. Leer más

Meta has rolled out a new AI‑powered feature that translates, dubs, and lip‑syncs short‑form Reels on Facebook and Instagram into English, Spanish, Hindi, and Portuguese. The tool mimics the creator’s tone and cadence, adds optional lip‑movement matching, and is free for creators with at least 1,000 followers and all public Instagram accounts in supported regions. Viewers can toggle translations on or off and see clear labeling indicating AI‑generated audio. The launch positions Meta ahead of competitors by offering a fully automated voice‑cloning solution for global audiences. Leer más

Meta announced that conversations with its Meta AI assistant on Facebook and Instagram will be used to personalize the ads and content users see. The change will roll out without an opt‑out option, while chats on WhatsApp remain excluded. Meta says it will respect boundaries around sensitive topics, and the rollout skips Europe and the UK due to GDPR restrictions. The move turns AI interactions into another data source for ad targeting, raising privacy concerns among users. Leer más

Adam Mosseri, the head of Instagram, used his Instagram account to refute the long‑standing claim that Meta secretly activates users' phone microphones to harvest audio for ad targeting. He explained that the platform does not need to listen to conversations because its recommendation engine already leverages data from advertisers and user behavior. Mosseri also announced that Meta will soon augment its ad‑targeting signals with data gathered from interactions with its AI products, raising new privacy questions while maintaining that any microphone use would be obvious to users. Leer más

Meta announced that beginning Dec. 16 it will tailor ads and content recommendations on Facebook and Instagram based on users' interactions with its AI features. The company said it will notify users on Oct. 7 and that the changes will roll out in the United States and most other regions. Personalization will draw from AI chats—voice or text—while users retain control through Ads Preferences and feed settings. Meta emphasized internal privacy reviews and safeguards to protect personal data, noting that the feature applies only to platforms linked in the Accounts Center. Leer más

Meta announced that data gathered from user interactions with its AI products will be used to power more precise ads on its social platforms. The company will update its privacy policy to reflect this change, which will apply worldwide except in regions where local laws restrict such data use. While Meta says there is no opt‑out and that ads will not appear within the AI tools themselves, it will exclude conversations about sensitive topics from ad targeting. The move expands Meta’s existing ad‑targeting capabilities by adding a new source of user insight. Leer más

Meta CEO Adam Mosseri recently posted a video responding to user worries that Instagram is "spying" on them to deliver ads. In the clip, Mosseri explains that the platform does not monitor private conversations. Instead, ad relevance is driven by a combination of recent web activity, data shared by advertisers, friends' interests, prior exposure to the same ads, and occasional coincidences. The message aims to clarify how the algorithm works and to reassure users that their private discussions are not being captured for advertising purposes. Leer más

Meta announced that it will begin using data from conversations with its AI chatbots to personalize content and advertising on its platforms, including Facebook and Instagram. The move, set to start on December 16, will be communicated to users through in‑product notifications and emails beginning October 7. Meta says the data will help tailor feeds and ads but will exclude topics such as religious views, sexual orientation, political views, health, racial or ethnic origin, philosophical beliefs or trade‑union membership. Critics note there is no opt‑out option, raising privacy concerns. Leer más

Meta is rolling out new facial recognition‑powered safety features on Facebook in the United Kingdom, European Union and South Korea to curb accounts that impersonate public figures. The technology, first used in the United States last year to flag fraudulent celebrity ads and aid account recovery, now lets the company compare profile pictures of suspicious accounts with verified public‑figure images. Public figures can opt in to the program, and the rollout will extend to Instagram in coming months. Meta says the move has already helped reduce user reports of "celebrity bait" ads globally. Leer más

Aaron Sorkin will write and direct a sequel to “The Social Network” titled “The Social Reckoning,” slated for release on October 9, 2026. The film replaces Jesse Eisenberg with Jeremy Strong as Mark Zuckerberg and centers on former Facebook employee Frances Haugen, whose leaked internal documents exposed Meta’s alleged prioritization of profit over people. The storyline draws from Haugen’s testimony about Instagram’s impact on teenage girls, alleged ethnic violence in Ethiopia, and the disproportionate focus on English‑language misinformation. The project aims to dramatize the controversy surrounding Meta’s practices and the fallout from the high‑profile leaks. Leer más

Meta has introduced Vibes, a dedicated feed within its Meta AI app that showcases AI-generated short-form videos. Users can browse creations from others, produce their own clips from scratch or by adapting existing videos, and share them via direct messages or cross‑post to Instagram and Facebook. The company says more features for AI‑driven creation are forthcoming. CEO Mark Zuckerberg described Vibes as an early look at new product directions, and Meta Superintelligence Labs will collaborate with Midjourney and Black Forest Labs on upcoming AI projects. Leer más

Meta is prototyping a tool that lets Threads users influence the platform’s algorithm by tagging a dedicated account. Discovered by reverse engineer Alessandro Paluzzi, the feature would allow users to tell Threads what content they want to see more or less of. Instagram confirmed the work is internal and not yet in user testing. The concept mirrors a similar idea discussed for X, where users could tag the AI chatbot Grok to adjust their feed. Instagram also plans broader controls that let users select topics to prioritize or de‑prioritize, part of a larger effort to give users more transparency over recommendation engines. Leer más

Instagram has announced it now has 3 billion monthly active users. To keep growth momentum, the platform will test features that let users fine‑tune the algorithm behind Reels and other feeds, including toggling interest topics and a redesigned navigation bar that emphasizes direct messages. The rollout comes as Meta faces antitrust scrutiny over its acquisitions of Instagram and WhatsApp, with internal tensions highlighted between Instagram’s rise and Facebook’s declining appeal among younger users. Leer más

Google Discover, the personalized news feed in the Google app and on select Android home screens, is adding a follow button for publishers and creators and widening the types of content it surfaces. Users will soon see a blend of web articles, YouTube videos and posts from X and Instagram, while the new follow option lets them track specific outlets directly from the feed. The changes are currently rolling out to devices, with broader availability expected in the coming weeks. Leer más

Google announced a partnership with StopNCII.org to combat the spread of non‑consensual intimate imagery (NCII) by employing hash technology in its search results. Over the coming months, the company will use StopNCII’s image and video hashes—PDQ for photos and MD5 for videos—to identify and block flagged content without storing the original files. While the move follows similar commitments from Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Bumble and Microsoft’s integration into Bing, Google has faced criticism for lagging behind peers. Advocates note the new tools still place the removal burden on victims, highlighting ongoing challenges in protecting survivors. Leer más

Google is adding new content types to its Discover feed, bringing in social media posts from platforms such as Instagram and X, as well as YouTube Shorts. The company says users asked for a mix of articles, videos, and social posts, and the update will roll out in the coming weeks. Alongside the expanded feed, Discover now lets users follow creators or publishers, preview content, and customize what appears in their personalized stream, mirroring recent changes to Google Search. Leer más

The Federal Trade Commission has opened an inquiry into the AI chatbots offered by seven major technology companies, seeking to understand how they test, monitor and mitigate potential harms to minors. A Common Sense Media survey shows that more than 70% of teens use AI companions, with over half using them regularly. Experts warn that chatbots can give dangerous advice and fail to recognize concerning language. Companies such as Character.ai, Instagram and Snap say they have added safety features, while the FTC is demanding detailed disclosures on everything from monetization to age‑based safeguards. Leer más

In a recent Engadget podcast, hosts discuss the muted excitement ahead of Apple's September 9th iPhone 17 event, a U.S. antitrust judge's decision that Google will not be forced to sell Chrome, upcoming Gemini-powered smart home announcements, the Browser Company’s sale to Atlassian, Instagram’s first iPad app after 15 years, Dolby Vision 2 with AI features, and Ooni’s AI‑driven Volt V2 pizza oven. The episode also highlights new hardware from Remarkable, Acer, and Samsung. Leer más