Zuckerberg Swiped Elon’s Big Swiping Idea

Mark Zuckerberg began testing a horizontal swiping feature on Wednesday for his pet project, Threads, the app whose main purpose seems to be trolling Elon Musk. The feature appears to be something Musk tweeted about two weeks ago, noting that he’s wanted to add it to X for the last year. Threads Needs These Five … Read more

Today’s Supreme Court Hearing Addresses a Far-Right Boogeyman

Today, the Supreme Court will hear a case that will determine whether the government can communicate with social media companies to flag misleading or harmful content to social platforms—or talk to them at all. And a lot of the case revolves around Covid-19 conspiracy theories. In Murthy v. Missouri, Attorney Generals from Louisiana and Missouri, … Read more

The Greatest App of All Time Day 17: Instagram vs. WhatsApp

Welcome back to Gizmodo’s March Madness bracket challenge to name the greatest app of all time! Yesterday’s tournament was a bloodbath with Calculator taking more than 87 percent of the vote. Twitch goes home empty-handed. Today, we have the crown jewels of Zuckerberg’s empire going head-to-head. If you’re just tuning in, you can read all … Read more

Facebook Marketplace Is a Surreal Nightmare. These Are the Most Unhinged Listings

Screenshot: Facebook / Gizmodo Facebook is a wasteland. Once the default gateway to the internet, today the site has a reputation as one of the least cool places on the web—at least for America’s taste-making young people. But, as the New York Times recently pointed out, there’s one corner of the platform that keeps the … Read more

The TikTok Bill Could Get a Lot of Apps Banned

A bill banning TikTok, unless it is sold, passed through the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday and is on its way to the Senate. The bill being rushed through Congress names TikTok outright, but it also bans other apps the President determines to be a “national security threat.” Technology lawyers are concerned these vague … Read more

That Viral Photo of ‘Hollywood Mountain’ California Is Completely Fake

Have you seen a stunning photo of Hollywood Mountain, California recently? One image is making the rounds on social media platforms like Facebook and BlueSky depicting what appears to be a lush green mountain with the L.A. skyline in the background. But it’s completely fake. There’s not even a real place called Hollywood Mountain. Like … Read more

TikTok ‘Ban’ Bill Passes in the House

A bill forcing the China-based ByteDance to sell TikTok, or face an outright ban, passed the United States House of Representatives on Wednesday in a vote of 352 to 65. The bill will now head to the Senate, where it is expected to face tough opposition before it can reach President Biden, who indicated he … Read more

Trump says TikTok ban would empower Meta, slams Facebook

Presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump on Monday raised concerns about efforts to ban Chinese-owned social media app TikTok in the U.S., saying it would only serve to empower Meta’s Facebook platform. “Without TikTok, you can make Facebook bigger, and I consider Facebook to be an enemy of the people,” Trump, who was formerly U.S. … Read more

No, ‘Leave the World Behind’ and ‘Civil War’ Aren’t Happening Before Your Eyes

Several people are typing, and they’re all saying Netflix’s Leave the World Behind is wildly prescient. The movie, directed by Sam Esmail, opens on a world where communication has been knocked out following a cyberattack. And earlier this week, when nearly all of Meta’s platforms—Facebook, Instagram, Threads—went down, people took to (other) social media platforms … Read more

Donald Trump Comes Out Against TikTok Ban in Bizarre Reversal

Donald Trump appeared to come out in defense of TikTok, the social media platform facing a potential ban by Congress, in a flurry of posts late Thursday on his social media platform Truth Social. The platform, it should be noted, experienced a widespread outage as the former president attempted to live-tweet President Joe Biden’s State … Read more