Instagram

Developer Alessandro Paluzzi spotted a new “challenges” feature being developed for Instagram’s Telegram-like broadcast channels that lets creators start photo contests for members and award them prizes.

According to the screenshot Paluzzi shared, channel members can interact with or report entries, and can also share them “in their stories, messages and across other apps.”

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg has announced that the feature is no longer in testing, which means you’ll now get to keep tabs on what people are talking about from the app’s search tab and For You feed.

Yes, Windows users can get the Threads app Mark Zuckerberg is showing here from the Microsoft Store

But once it’s installed, you’ll get the same desktop web app experience (loaded in Microsoft’s Edge web browser) that we’ve had access to since August.

Eight consumer rights groups from across the bloc filed GDPR complaints on Thursday, arguing that the ad-free subscriptions introduced for Facebook and Instagram in response to EU privacy regulations are a “consent masquerade that does not actually give consumers a free choice.”

Ursula Pachl, deputy director general of the European Consumer Organisation (BEUC), said in a statement:

“Meta’s offer to consumers is smoke and mirrors to cover up what is, at its core, the same old hoovering up of all kinds of sensitive information about people’s lives which it then monetises through its invasive advertising model.”

Alessandro Paluzzi, who discovers a lot of Instagram features before they’re announced, posted an update on something he’d spotted in the app months ago: the ability to see where your friends are on a map. Snap’s Snap Map is similar, as are features built into Android and iOS.

According to the images Paluzzi posted, Friend Map would be opt-in, and location data end-to-end encrypted.

Some things are universal.

Mobile developer Alessandro Paluzzi shared a screenshot that shows an option to “write with AI” when messaging another user. It’s too early to tell what this feature will do, but it’s not exactly a surprise given the AI features Meta has already rolled out on its platforms.

This Instagram feature was spotted late last year, but now some people say it’s live on their accounts.

Going a step further than “Close Friends” posts that are only visible to a select few, it enables another version of a person’s profile with a different name, details, and profile picture, with photos, reels, and stories that only approved accounts can see.

Samsung announced yesterday that its new Galaxy S24 would become the first device to be able to post and view photos in HDR on Instagram. But this feature may be arriving on more devices soon, according to Meta spokesperson Cullen Heaney:

Samsung is the first manufacturer we’ve worked with to make this feature available, meaning SG24 users are the first to be able to post and view HDR photos in Feed. We are working with additional Android partners (and iOS) to expand the availability of the feature (and thus ability to view in HDR as well).

When a teenager spends more than 10 minutes watching Instagram Reels or sending DMs after 10PM, the app will now prompt them to close Instagram for the night. Meta’s launching the features amidst heightened concern over the impact of social media on its younger users; Mark Zuckerberg and other tech CEOs are due to appear before the US Senate later this month to “testify about their failure to protect children online.”

The new filters, which were announced on the @creators Instagram channel, add to the big batch Instagram added in November. Hopefully these recent additions are a sign that Instagram wants to add more filters at a faster clip.

Reports from Business Insider and The Information say the impacted employees were technical program managers at Instagram. They will reportedly have until March to apply for a new role within the company.

Meta made cuts across the company last year, but it seems job cuts are continuing into 2024. Google, Discord, Twitch, and Unity all announced layoffs this month, too.

It looks like the app might be adding a list of topics “based on what people are engaging with right now,” according to app developer Alessandro Paluzzi. You can see how the feature might look in the screenshot below, which has a “Today’s topic” heading positioned beneath the search bar.

Meanwhile, a separate post from Paluzzi also suggests Threads might add a feature that shows live updates for “upcoming, ongoing and past sports events.”

Variety reported on Thursday that the director said he was doing a Peloton workout when the trainer, Jenn Sherman, called his movie Tenet “a couple hours of my life I’ll never get back again!”

Yesterday, Deadline spotted that Sherman posted a video inviting Nolan to come workout in the Peloton studio with her, promising not to insult him this time (and saying she loved Oppenheimer).

TikTok announced that the updated app will take better advantage of tablet and foldable screen real estate by pushing overlaid text to the side. The app also now works in portrait or landscape mode for devices where it didn’t previously, the company wrote.

Meanwhile, in the year 2023, Instagram on the iPad is just a crummy, blown-up iPhone app.

Instagram will soon automatically filter follow requests from suspected spam or bot accounts into a separate inbox. You can manually approve any that you think are authentic, and bulk delete the rest, including existing followers that Instagram thinks might be inauthentic. The feature is rolling out over the coming weeks alongside an option to bulk delete spammy tags, and new in-app nudges that’ll let you know when your posts go against Instagram’s guidelines.

It’s a fun tool, though the backgrounds I’ve tested definitely have an “AI art” vibe to them.