do you have a new favorite social media app? #tech #startups #socialmedia

The internet’s favorite posts say a lot about what people care about most ❤️ Most of the top posts, from Messi’s World Cup win to a random egg, pulled in between 35 and 75 million likes. When something makes everyone stop scrolling for a second, that’s when it becomes part of internet history. #Instagram #Culture #Likes #Engagement #SocialMedia #Wealth

Elon Musk’s AI startup, xAI, has acquired his social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, he announced in a post on X Friday. “xAI has acquired X in an all-stock transaction. The combination values xAI at $80 billion and X at $33 billion ($45B less $12B debt),” Musk said in the post. “xAI and X’s futures are intertwined. Today, we officially take the step to combine the data, models, compute, distribution and talent.” The acquisition places X — the highly influential social media platform Musk purchased in 2022 under its former name, Twitter — firmly under the umbrella of Musk’s AI startup, which he founded in 2023 to compete with OpenAI. While xAI’s products, including its AI chatbot Grok, were tightly integrated into the X platform before this deal, Friday’s acquisition further combines two of Musk’s most high-profile companies. Musk — who also leads Tesla, SpaceX, and Neuralink — notes in his post that this deal values X at $33 billion (lowered from an enterprise value of $45 billion due to the company’s $12 billion in debt). Read more at the link in the bio 👆 *Post was updated for more details. Article by Maxwell Zeff Image Credits: SAUL LOEB / AFP / Getty Images #TechCrunch #technews #artificialintelligence #ElonMusk #Twitter #X #socialmedia

The internet’s favorite posts say a lot about what people care about most ❤️ Most of the top posts, from Messi’s World Cup win to a random egg, pulled in between 35 and 75 million likes. When something makes everyone stop scrolling for a second, that’s when it becomes part of internet history. #Instagram #Culture #Likes #Engagement #SocialMedia #Wealth

Raju Bhat went viral singing Dil Pe Chalai Churiyaan with just stones as his instrument… and the internet did the rest. Now there are viral claims he even bought a Thar! 🚘 Meanwhile, people are still stuck in their 9–5 jobs 😭💼 That’s the power of social media. 👉 Follow @marketing.growmatics for more startup & viral stories #MarketingGrowmatics #RajuKalakaar #SocialMediaPower #ViralContent #FromStonesToThar #9to5Life #StartupStories #ContentIsKing

With all eyes on how a new Trump administration in the U.S. will interface with China Tech in the years ahead, its neighbor to the north has leveled a blow to one of the biggest apps to come out of the country. Canada has ordered the closure of ByteDance’s operations in Canada — specifically the offices of TikTok Technology Canada, Inc. — citing national security risks. Those risks do not extend to the app itself: consumers can still download, use, and create content for TikTok, and businesses can still advertise on it. “The decision to use a social media application or platform is a personal choice,” said François-Philippe Champagne, the country’s Minister of Innovation, Science and Industry, in a statement. Read more on Canada ordering the shutdown of TikTok offices at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Ingrid Lunden Image Credits: Jakub Porzycki / NurPhoto / Getty Images #TechCrunch #technews #TikTok #socialmedia #ByteDance

Meta has added another privacy sanction to its extensive collection: South Korea’s data protection agency fined the social media giant around $15.7 million for processing sensitive user data and passing it to advertisers without a proper legal basis, Reuters reports. Seoul’s Personal Information Protection Commission (PIPC) found Facebook’s parent collected information from about 980,000 users, on sensitive topics such as politics, sexuality, and religion, without obtaining their permission. It then shared it with some 4,000 advertisers in violation of local data protection rules. Meta obtained the sensitive behavioral data by analyzing pages users had liked and ads they’d clicked on, among other tracking and profiling methods. Read more on Meta exposing North Korean defectors' info to advertisers at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Natasha Lomas Image Credits: Alex Wong / Staff / Getty Images #TechCrunch #technews #Meta #advertising #socialmedia #MarkZuckerberg #Meta

Throughout the years, several reports have accused Roblox, the popular gaming platform aimed at preteens, of lacking strict safety protocols for children, which exposes them to dangers such as grooming, explicit content, and violent or abusive material. In a significant update to its safety policy, Roblox plans to keep users under the age of 13 away from unrated experiences. It’ll also prevent access to social hangouts and experiences that use free-form 2D user creation, which both pose risks, as they include options for chatting with other players, who may use inappropriate language, as well as interactive experiences where users can draw or write within the game. The platform noted in a post to creators on Wednesday that, by default, kids aged 12 years old and younger will no longer be able to “play, search, and discover unrated experiences.” Read more on Roblox newest safety measures at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Lauren Forristal Image Credits: Roblox #TechCrunch #technews #gaming #socialmedia #apps #Roblox

in the clerb we all fam 📱 It’s clear that Gen Z has an influence on app consumption. Known as the “mobile-first generation,” they make up about 40% of all mobile users worldwide. Curious about their preferences, we recently contacted the app intelligence firm Appfigures, which provided an overview of the 50 most downloaded apps by Gen Z this year. Due to privacy rules, we were unable to obtain data for users aged 13 to 17. The firm only shared total download numbers for users aged 18 to 24, and the data is limited to users in the U.S., so it doesn’t provide a complete picture. Even so, this gives us an idea of the preferences among the older segment of this generation. Find out the top apps Gen Z young adults downloaded this year at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Lauren Forristal Image Credits: Johnce / Getty Images Signature #TechCrunch #technews #GenZ #socialmedia #apps #iPhone #Android

President-elect Donald Trump will try to prevent TikTok from getting banned in the United States, The Washington Post reported on Tuesday. During his campaign, Trump promised voters that he would save the popular social media app if elected. Former Trump adviser and campaign manager Kellyanne Conway told the Post that the president-elect “appreciates the breadth and reach of TikTok,” and that “there are many ways to hold China to account outside alienating 180 million U.S. users each month.” The Post also cited three anonymous Trump aides who believe that the president-elect will intervene on TikTok’s behalf to halt the ban. Read more on the looming TikTok ban at the link in the bio 👆 Article by Aisha Malik Image Credits: Chip Somodevilla / Getty Images #TechCrunch #technews #TikTok #ByteDance #socialmedia #DonaldTrump