The internet has been transformed by social media, and the many platforms are now critical to how we communicate online. The Verge keeps a close eye on everything that’s happening in the social media landscape, covering key players like Meta, X, and TikTok, reporting on new features, following cultural moments, and breaking down the policies that shape how the platforms work.
A Meta exec calls Sam Altman “dishonest,” my conversation with the startup CEO who is suing OpenAI, and AI is coming for games.
The recently-launched CapCut clone is also adding more text effects and will let you apply voice enhancement to voiceovers. Check out all of the new updates in a post from Instagram’s Creators account.
The preliminary findings of Australia’s Age Assurance Technology Trial “didn’t find a single ubiquitous solution” for the country’s incoming social media ban for under-16s, but trial director Tony Allen said there’s little stopping services like Facebook, Instagram, and X from implementing existing age-verification methods like facial scans, behavior assessments, and parental controls.
With so many other countries also trying to enforce online age restrictions, you’d think Australia could have just asked?
[bloomberg.com]
Out at Vice Media: former CEO Bruce Dixon. In: new CEO Adam Stotsky, “A lot of the sort of messy stuff has been cleaned up,” Stotsky told The Wall Street Journal. We’ll see about that — when I wrote about Vice last year, there was still plenty of mess under Dixon.
This whole Trevor Noah / Jon Stewart pod is a good listen. But there’s a big chunk — starting about 13 minutes in — that turns into a really great chat about how we experience the internet. And Stewart makes a comparison I truly love:
We think [social media] is free speech, but it’s not speech. It’s ultra-processed speech. It’s speech in the way that Doritos are food — it’s something that has been designed by people in lab coats to get past the parts of your brain that protect you.”
Platforms could soon have to display tobacco-like warning labels, and include links to mental health resources. It’s a concept former Surgeon General Vivek Murthy pushed for on the federal level and that many states backed. It heads to Gov. Tim Walz (D), but VP of litigation Kathleen Farley at tech industry group Chamber of Progress warns signing it would enact “a clear First Amendment violation, and Minnesota would waste millions defending it in court.”
The New York Times surveyed the ecosystem of disinformation around the LA anti-ICE protests, and the results are striking for looking... pretty much exactly like the pre-AI world: old recirculated photos, fabricated quotes, and a shot from an ‘80s action movie. The Washington Post did its own social media look-around and found mostly people supporting dueling narratives with real footage. There’s still time for generated fakes to cause problems, but at the moment, reality seems to be eye-catching enough.
Ghost’s official ActivityPub integration is set to launch with Ghost 6.0, which is coming in the next month, Ghost says:
We’re excited, but nervous. You never get everything done that you hope to, before launching a first version, but launch you must.
This launch, though, feels bigger than most, because ActivityPub is more than a protocol or a fancy feature; it’s a statement that the open web still matters.”
[activitypub.ghost.org]
Our sister site Eater just did a great deep dive into why you might be seeing people comment “meatball” and other foodstuffs on cooking creators’ social media. The short of it is AI recipe and link-sharing automations that help users avoid that pesky link in bio. That said, creators have mixed feelings over chatbots taking over their comment section.
Last month, Bluesky started proactively verifying accounts, but Bluesky said today that “notable and authentic” users can now apply for verification, as spotted by TechCrunch. You can also apply to become a Trusted Verifier to verify accounts affiliated with an organization.
[techcrunch.com]
After spotting early code for the functionality in March, Android Authority has managed to get it working in the latest beta build of Google’s RCS messaging app. For now it’s not triggering any extra notifications for people who get tagged though. Google is yet to confirm it’s working on mentions, so we don’t know how long it’ll take to roll out for real.
[androidauthority.com]
Stage one is mining Pope Leo XIV’s social media history. Stage two is his relatives posting screenshots of the family group chats.
Leo XIV is the first pope with an online footprint, and it’s already defining his papacy… which is weird.
It “continues to be on track to become our next major social app,” Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said in the company’s Q1 2025 earnings call.
Emma Roth wrote up more about Meta’s earnings call earlier today.
Trump tried to ban TikTok in 2020 — now, it’s his megaphone to Gen Z.
UK media regulator Ofcom has laid down the rules that social media sites and gaming apps will have to follow from July 25th under the Online Safety Act, which started coming into force last month. Sites and apps will have to offer child-safe algorithms, strong moderation tools, and any “harmful content” must be gated behind the same “highly effective” age checks required of porn sites, which can include face scans or credit card checks.
[ofcom.org.uk]
Pew Research surveyed a group of teens and parents about social media and mental health with predictable results. But this chart is, by far, my favorite, suggesting that Gen Alpha remains irrepressibly optimistic despite everything.
