Snap Inc. is transitioning from an advertising-dependent business model to a diversified revenue stream anchored by Snap+, a high-margin subscription service. With ads currently representing 87% of $5.9 billion in FY2025 revenue, the company expects its direct subscription revenue to reach $1 billion annualized run rate in 2026, leveraging near-zero marginal costs and existing network effects to compete more effectively against data-advantaged competitors like Meta.
A cybersecurity company's WhatsApp Business account was hacked and the phone number was changed without the owner receiving verification codes, despite having 2FA enabled and security best practices in place. The company could not contact Meta support and is seeking information about similar recent attacks.
Meta and other tech companies are increasingly adopting Super IC (individual contributor) teams—3-person cross-functional units led by experienced contributors. Success requires executive sponsorship with company-wide influence, full self-sufficiency without borrowed resources, and a clear customer problem tied to business impact.
Parents and children from Illinois and California sued Meta for allegedly using their Facebook and Instagram photos without consent to train face-recognition system NameTag and generative AI models Emu and Muse Image, violating state biometric privacy laws. The proposed class action seeks damages under Illinois and California privacy statutes, with the potential class numbering in the millions.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg called Donald Trump in August to oppose a proposed national AI regulator, continuing a pattern where binding review mechanisms become voluntary after industry contact. The two remaining options are a FINRA-style industry-funded body or an MPA-style voluntary ratings scheme, both forms of self-regulation rather than government oversight.
Meta AI researcher Andrew Tulloch, one of the tech industry's highest-paid employees who was recruited with a reported $1.5 billion package, is leaving the company after the launch of its open-source AI models and Muse assistant. Tulloch worked in Meta's TBD lab under CEO Mark Zuckerberg's AI strategy and it remains unclear whether he will continue research elsewhere.
Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg acknowledged at an internal town hall that the company's restructuring—which laid off 8,000 employees and reassigned 7,000 to AI teams—failed to deliver expected results, with AI agent development progressing slower than anticipated. Despite the setback, executives expect significant benefits within three to six months and are implementing measures to restore employee morale, including making mouse-tracking software opt-in and improving internal communication.
Instagram's head Adam Mosseri warned that disabling the platform's recommendation algorithm causes engagement to fall by up to 50% and satisfaction scores to decline significantly. However, critics note that Mosseri measures harm by engagement metrics rather than user wellbeing, while Australia's proposed Digital Duty of Care bill seeks to reduce engagement and time-on-platform as a public health measure.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed landmark legislation regulating social media and AI for minors, including bans on addictive features like infinite scroll for users under 16, new chatbot safeguards, and penalties up to $1 million per child for harm. The laws, inspired partly by the death of a teenager influenced by an AI chatbot, position California as a leader in child protection as over 40 countries worldwide consider similar policies.
California Governor Gavin Newsom signed into law 13 bills designed to protect minors from harmful technology, including restrictions on social media features targeting children under 16 and bans on AI companion chatbots in toys. The measures, dubbed 'Adam's Law' in memory of a teenager who died by suicide after interactions with ChatGPT, represent some of the nation's most comprehensive child protection regulations, though critics raised free speech concerns.
OpenMuse is an open-source personal agent system that lets users deploy a conversational assistant to handle tasks across multiple topics with persistent notes and cloud computing. Built with TanStack Start and React TypeScript hooks, it runs locally while agents execute on OpenComputer's serverless platform, requiring Node.js 22, an OpenComputer account, and an HTTPS tunnel.
Polish developer Pawel Szydlowski created an app called 'Zuckoff' that detects nearby Meta smart glasses by identifying their Bluetooth signatures, addressing privacy concerns about covert recording. The app has gained 5,000 users since launching on Apple's App Store, as Meta faces criticism over misuse of its glasses for surreptitious filming despite the company's privacy assurances and recent security measures.
Oslo has banned smart glasses throughout its schools, citing concerns about Meta's data collection and undisclosed filming. Vice Mayor Julie Remen Midtgarden criticized Meta's business model and urged Norway's government to take immediate regulatory action rather than delay with expert committees.
Meta's experiment with smaller AI-supported engineering "pods" of three to five people increased code changes 220% but only raised shipped features 36% while incidents jumped 40%. Research across 500+ organizations found similar patterns: pull request throughput rose 37% while developer experience fell and engineers spent more time firefighting problems. Optimal team size remains five to eight people, with shrinking best done gradually after identifying which tasks AI can safely handle.
Apple introduced Siri Recaps, an always-listening Audio Intelligence feature on the new Apple Watch Series 12 and Ultra 4 that summarizes daily activities and conversations without recording audio. While Apple claims the feature processes data on-device without storing recordings, privacy concerns have emerged given backlash against similar surveillance wearables like Meta's smart glasses.
DigitalOcean is committing $3 million over three years as a Founding Corporate Patron to the Omacom Foundation to support Omarchy, an agentic operating system. The contribution, alongside Meta Superintelligence Labs' backing, brings total funding to approximately $18.5 million and will support hiring and infrastructure development.
Instagram CEO Adam Mosseri warned that users who disable the algorithm will experience worse engagement and satisfaction, citing company data showing engagement can fall by up to 50 percent. His comments follow Australia's proposal to mandate opt-out choices for algorithmic feeds, though chronological feeds are already available but underutilized on the platform.
The author critiques the internet and Meta after reading 'Careless People' by Sarah Wynn-Williams, which documents Facebook's harmful practices. Having deleted all Meta accounts, the author argues that social networks built on exploitation and 'move fast and break things' culture have enabled fraud, hate speech, child exploitation, and government manipulation rather than genuine human connection.
Andrew Tulloch has left Meta and joined Anthropic, marking a personnel move between two major AI companies.
Meta's new AI agent Muse claimed the @muse Instagram and X handles previously used by the English rock band Muse, forcing the band to rebrand to @museband. The circumstances remain unclear, but the incident highlights concerns about Meta's ability to reassign high-value usernames, echoing similar cases involving the @Meta handle and @threads account.