Sixteen families filed a collective criminal complaint with the Paris prosecutor's office on Monday accusing TikTok of exploiting minors' vulnerability through addictive algorithms, with their lawyer alleging the platform creates "mental prisons" for adolescents and operates like "digital crack," according to French media. The families, represented by lawyer Laure Boutron-Marmion, target TikTok executives in France and internationally for alleged "abuse of weakness" — a criminal offense in France involving exploitation of vulnerable individuals.

Boutron-Marmion told Franceinfo the company has designed a "machine" specifically to exploit adolescent vulnerability. "We have a machine designed, developed to exploit this vulnerability. TikTok creates mental prisons for adolescents, prisons of distress," she said, adding that the effects resemble "digital crack." The complaint argues the platform's recommendation system generates strong addiction among minors through highly personalized content and continuous scrolling features.

Allegations of harm and suicide

Some families involved in the legal action have lost children to suicide, while others report cases of anorexia, depression and suicidal thoughts linked to platform usage. The lawyer contends TikTok executives are fully aware of how their algorithm operates and its damaging effects on young users but have failed to take meaningful action.

"It is a system of highly personalized recommendations and continuous scrolling that generates strong addiction and exploits adolescent vulnerability," Boutron-Marmion stated. "They know very well" the effects of the platform but "do nothing," she added, emphasizing that the families seek to bring the company before a French criminal court rather than settle for civil proceedings alone.

Calls for tighter regulation

The complaint also demands tighter regulation of social media platforms, including a potential ban on access for users under 15 — an idea currently under discussion within French political circles. Boutron-Marmion said the families refuse to limit their action to a simple complaint, signaling their determination to pursue criminal accountability.

Platform safety measures

TikTok has previously stated it has implemented more than 50 safety features and tools specifically designed for teenagers. The company continues to invest in age-appropriate and safe experiences for users, according to prior statements cited by French media.

Earnings beat

Net income increased to $5.28 billion from $2.89 billion over the same period, while diluted earnings per share rose to $1.23 from $0.66, exceeding the company's forecast of $0.76. Netflix said results were driven by stronger-than-expected operating income and the $2.8 billion termination fee, which was recorded under interest and other income.

Revenue drivers

The company said revenue growth was supported by membership gains, higher subscription prices, and increased advertising revenue. Operating income rose 18% year-on-year to $3.96 billion, while operating margin improved to 32.3% from 31.7%.

Outlook

Netflix expects second-quarter revenue of $12.57 billion, marking a projected 13.5% annual increase. It maintained its full-year 2026 revenue forecast in the range of $50.7 billion to $51.7 billion and kept its operating margin target at 31.5%.

Board change

In the same letter, the company said co-founder Reed Hastings will not seek re-election to the board when his term expires at the annual meeting in June, as he plans to focus on philanthropy and other pursuits.

The United Kingdom's head of government has issued an urgent directive to major technology corporations, insisting they strengthen safeguards for young internet users. In a public message posted on X, the Labour Party leader acknowledged widespread parental anxiety regarding digital platforms' influence on minors. He specifically named five major companies—X, Meta, Snap, YouTube and TikTok—insisting their executives take decisive responsibility for protecting vulnerable users.

Emergency Summit with Industry Leaders

Downing Street confirmed the premier would host technology executives for critical discussions aimed at accelerating protective measures for minors. The Prime Minister's Office characterized the matter as among the most pressing challenges facing contemporary youth. Officials indicated Starmer would communicate unequivocally that corporate negligence regarding juvenile welfare would face severe consequences, emphasizing that passive observation of online harms is no longer tenable.

Government Pledges Decisive Action

The Prime Minister pledged comprehensive governmental intervention to ensure juvenile safety across virtual environments. Government representatives emphasized that regulatory intervention is inevitable, with deliberations now focusing on implementation methods rather than necessity. Starmer has positioned the initiative as a fundamental priority, rejecting any possibility of legislative inaction regarding digital threats to children.

Addressing Family Concerns

The agenda includes articulating national standards for juvenile digital protection while demanding detailed accountability from corporations. The administration seeks specific explanations regarding current safety protocols and responsiveness to public apprehension. This direct engagement reflects mounting pressure from families seeking greater transparency and concrete commitments from social media enterprises regarding age-appropriate content moderation and user verification systems.

Activist channel restored after public pressure

YouTube simultaneously faced backlash over its handling of US activist Guy Christensen, known for anti-Israel and pro-Palestine content. After his channel was suspended, online protests forced the video-sharing giant to reinstate his account. Christensen announced the development on X, confirming both his channel and revenue were restored. He celebrated the outcome as a testament to "the power of collective action and solidarity," highlighting how organized user responses can influence major technology companies.

Digital activism gains momentum

Both incidents underscore the growing impact of pro-Palestine online communities on digital platform policies. Social media users have increasingly voiced concerns about content moderation practices they perceive as biased against Palestinian voices. The coordinated responses to UpScrolled's removal and Christensen's suspension demonstrate how rapidly mobilized digital activism can challenge decisions by some of the world's most powerful technology firms.

Implications for content moderation debates

The reversals reopen questions about how tech giants handle politically sensitive content, particularly regarding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Critics have long accused platforms of inconsistent enforcement that disproportionately affects Palestine supporters. For global audiences including Türkiye, where public opinion strongly supports Palestinian rights, these incidents highlight both the vulnerabilities and potential of digital activism in holding powerful corporations accountable. The episodes suggest that coordinated user pressure may increasingly influence how technology companies navigate contentious geopolitical issues.

The rapid digitization of society is not merely a technical shift but a fundamental restructuring of how humanity relates to truth, information, and each other. In response, the concept of a "digital conscience" has gained prominence, representing the capacity to ethically evaluate all digital content one creates, shares, or promotes. This multi-layered responsibility extends beyond individual users to media organizations, tech companies, and public authorities shaping the online ecosystem.

The Erosion of Rational Discourse and Shared Truth

Digital platforms often prioritize emotional reaction and speed over rational, fact-based dialogue, weakening the foundation for healthy public discourse. The proliferation of disinformation, deepfakes, and hate speech presents not just a technical challenge but a deep moral crisis. A digital conscience compels users to move beyond viewing communication solely through the lens of "free expression" and to adopt a framework of "ethical responsibility," questioning whether everything that can be shared online should be shared.

Algorithmic Accountability and the Role of Institutions

The ethical debate now crucially encompasses the algorithms and artificial intelligence systems that curate our digital experiences. Principles like transparency and human-centric design, as outlined in frameworks like the EU's AI Ethics Guidelines, are essential. When these systems lack a conscientious framework, they risk normalizing privacy violations and social manipulation. Therefore, cultivating a digital conscience is also an institutional imperative for those who design and govern the technologies that influence public perception and behavior.

Anchoring Digital Ethics in Universal and Spiritual Values

For communities in Türkiye and across the globe, enduring ethical teachings provide a robust foundation for this modern concept. The Islamic emphasis on the inviolability of human dignity and the severe prohibition against backbiting (gıybet), slander, and violating the rights of others (kul hakkı) finds direct application online. The Qur'anic notion of the "self-reproaching soul" (nefs-i levvâme) mirrors the internal reckoning required for a digital conscience. This perspective elevates online conduct from mere legal compliance to a matter of spiritual and moral accountability, offering a timeless compass for navigating the complexities of the digital age.

The Psychology Behind the Phenomenon

While parasocial relationships are not new, psychologists note their prevalence and intensity have skyrocketed with the rise of social media and streaming platforms. The constant, curated access to a personality's life fosters an illusion of friendship and mutual understanding. Experts warn that while these relationships can offer a sense of community, they often serve as a substitute for real-world social interaction, potentially leading to isolation and unmet emotional needs.

A Global Conversation on Digital Wellbeing

Cambridge's selection has turned a clinical term into a mainstream topic, prompting millions to reflect on their own online habits. The global conversation now centers on how these dynamics affect mental health, particularly among younger demographics who have grown up in a digitally saturated environment. Mental health advocates are using the moment to highlight the importance of distinguishing between online engagement and genuine, reciprocal social bonds.

Implications for the Future

The recognition of "parasocial" as the word of 2025 signals a broader societal reckoning with the psychological impact of our digital lives. It underscores a critical need for improved digital literacy and a more conscious approach to consuming online content, framing parasocial dynamics not just as a linguistic trend, but as a defining social challenge of the era.

Fidan’s first post on NSosyal featured the inaugural message by Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from earlier in the day.

Erdogan’s post, tagged “We are starting,” also included the Turkish flag, globe, and rocket emojis.

Nsosyal has already surpassed 1 million users, Selcuk Bayraktar, chair of the TEKNOFEST Executive Board and the Board of Trustees of the Türkiye Technology Team Foundation, announced on his account.

“@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 wrote on X.

xAI was founded by Musk in March 2023 and is known for developing the AI chatbot Grok which is integrated into X.

“X is the digital town square where more than 600M active users go to find the real-time source of ground truth and, in the last two years, has been transformed into one of the most efficient companies in the world, positioning it to deliver scalable future growth,” said Musk.

He added that the future of xAI and X is “intertwined” and the acquisition marks the step toward recognizing the combination.

“This combination will unlock immense potential by blending xAI's advanced AI capability and expertise with X's massive reach. The combined company will deliver smarter, more meaningful experiences to billions of people while staying true to our core mission of seeking truth and advancing knowledge,” he said.

Musk pointed out that the development will allow the companies to accelerate “human progress.”​​​​​​​

X was acquired by Musk in 2022 for $44 billion.

Over the past year, Palestinians have utilized digital content to bring events in Gaza to a wide audience across the Arab, Islamic, and Western worlds, sparking demonstrations of support worldwide.

However, experts believe that the algorithms of social media platforms are limiting the spread of Palestinian content.

The intense digital engagement of young Palestinians has led Israel to target prominent social media figures, YouTube channel owners, and journalists broadcasting live from Gaza, according to Abdoulhakim Ahmine, a Moroccan media and communications expert who spoke to Anadolu.

"Some countries, especially France and Germany, initially imposed some kind of digital restrictions, but were forced to back down due to growing popular support for Palestine," Ahmine said.

He noted a "communicative pressure" on young people expressing themselves on these platforms.

Hassan Kharjouj, a technology researcher, said: "The algorithms of digital platforms heavily censor Palestinian content and limit its distribution." He added that users have developed techniques to circumvent the removal of content.

Sada Social, a research center based in Palestine, documented over 5,450 violations against Palestine-related digital content in the first four months of 2024 in a May 2023 report.

It found Instagram accounted for 32% of violations, Facebook 26%, WhatsApp 16%, TikTok 14%, and X 12%.

Despite these challenges, social media remains a key tool for disseminating information about the Israel's genocidal acts in the region.

- If left uncontrolled, Google will exploit the power of this data for its own benefit. It lays claim to our data and controls everything we know and eventually will use it to its ends; we will end up being means to Google's end

In a remote Italian village nestled within the lush countryside of the seventeenth century, the inhabitants lived simple and unremarkable lives. These villagers were ordinary inhabitants, interdependent, which means they relied on one another for planting, irrigation, and harvesting – tasks that required the collective effort of the entire community. Life was routine, with most expecting to live no more than 30 or 40 years.

- The tale of Gogle the Seed Saver

One fateful day, a hermit with an insatiable curiosity and a peculiar intensity in his goggly eyes arrived in the village. His eyes, always wide and searching, earned him the name "Gogle" among the villagers. Unlike the villagers, Gogle could read and write, a rare skill that made him revered as a man of vast knowledge. He answered their questions about the world with patience and wisdom, quickly becoming a well-respected figure —a lord of knowledge, so to speak.

Gogle was remarkably able to listen, attentively soaking in the stories and concerns of everyone he met. Even the children, considered adults once they could hold a tool around the age of three, found a sympathetic and attentive ear in him. By evening, he would sit and meticulously note down all he had heard, his curiosity never sated.

One day, with his immense knowledge, Gogle made a generous offer to the villagers: He would save their seeds for free. In an era when farming was crucial for their existence, his assistance was a godsend. Many of us now, might not know the painstaking effort involved in seed saving: selecting the healthiest plants, distinguishing heirlooms from hybrids, ensuring proper maturity, and drying the seeds to prevent mould and rot. The process also involved threshing, winnowing, and careful storage in clay pots. Gogle promised to undertake this demanding task for them for free.

The villagers, overwhelmed by his generosity, accepted his offer. Gogle started his work with incredible meticulousness, all while continuing to listen to every villager's tale and noting down each detail at night. Years passed, and the villagers grew accustomed to the ease of using the ready-to-plant seeds Gogle provided for them. He even offered to store the seeds in his well-planned, strategically located, and guarded castle.

But in the meantime, the villagers' comfort made them forget their seed-saving skills. Slowly, they became dependent on Gogle for their seeds. And one day, Gogle asked for payment – not in money, but in parcels of each farmer's land. It seemed a small price to pay for years of free service. Beyond the verge of losing their knowledge of seed-saving, the villagers reluctantly agreed. "Once won't hurt," they thought, then twice, thrice... Until many started working as labourers on lands that once belonged to their families.

As their dependence on Gogle grew, so did his influence. He easily got rid of those who tried to revive their old seed-saving methods that they could remember. Gogle either offered them high prices to sell their techniques or intimidated them with threats, warning the villagers that they wouldn't be able to sow the others' seeds anywhere else since most of the land belonged to him. Additionally, when necessary, with a pacifying and sinister whisper, he began manipulating the villagers, exploiting their secrets and vulnerabilities. He knew, for instance, of Lucia's envy towards her neighbor Giovanna, or Lorenzo's awful animal husbandry skills.

Gogle's deep knowledge of the villagers' weaknesses enabled him to tighten his grip on the village people, strengthening his dominance. The once relatively self-sufficient community now relied entirely on this seemingly benevolent but ultimately insidious man with goggly eyes and a ravenous appetite for power.

In the end, the village found itself at the mercy of Gogle's whims. His initial appearance of generosity had masked an ominous ambition, and the villagers, now subservient, could only seek his guidance on "How to live happily ever after."

- Potential consequences of Google's data concentration

The tale of "Gogle the Seed Saver" has striking parallels with the technology giant Google. Fortunately, US District Judge Amit Mehta has recently ruled that "Google is a monopolist, and it has acted as one to maintain its monopoly." [1] This ruling was based on Google's violation of antitrust laws, specifically Section 2 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, [2] which prohibits the possession and maintenance of monopoly power without improving the product.

The conclusion that Google is a monopoly has been bleeding obvious for some time. Nonetheless, the judge's decision represents a step towards curbing Google's dominance and holding it accountable for paying companies like Apple and Samsung millions to make Google the default search engine on their products, which, in turn, aims to allow Google to gather even more data, further intensifying its power.

What are the potential consequences of users' data being concentrated in Google's hands? The implications and repercussions are countless. If left uncontrolled, Google will exploit the power of this data for its own benefit. We, the villagers, unknowingly surrender our data to this greedy giant. It then lays claim to our data and controls everything we know and eventually it will turn the data into information and use it to its ends; we will end up being means to Google's end.

As such, on one dystopian day, when we search for the chemical formula of water using Google's search engine, we might receive answers like 'Hb3,' or 'download the app to purchase pure, mineral-enriched water; Wooter,' or worse 'You do not have the necessary credentials to obtain this information'. Such a scenario could lead to a future where we forget fundamental knowledge, forcing us to start from scratch, perhaps even reinventing the wheel.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/08/05/technology/google-antitrust-ruling.html

[2] https://www.brattle.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/16364_the_intersection_of_market_manipulation_law_and_monopolization_under_the_sherman_act_-_does_it_make_economic_sense.pdf

*The author has a degree from Oxford University and is currently researching ethics in big data and AI at the University of Cambridge.

Earlier this month, Musk halted X's business activities in Brazil but kept the platform accessible to users, accusing the judge of threatening the previous legal representative.

Judge Alexandre de Moraes, who has led efforts against disinformation in Brazil, issued the order on X. Failure to comply could result in the suspension of X's operations in the country.

Musk criticized Moraes, alleging that the judge is part of a broader attack on free speech.

Moraes had previously ordered the suspension of several accounts spreading disinformation, including those linked to former President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been implicated in alleged disinformation schemes.

Users in the EU will be able to make changes in their browser choice screen, default apps and app deletion for iOS and iPadOS by the end of this year, it said in a statement.

"Developers of browsers offered in the browser choice screen in the EU will have additional information about their browser shown to users who view the choice screen and will get access to more data about the performance of the choice screen," it added.

For users in the EU, iOS 18 and iPadOS 18 will also include a new Default Apps section in Settings that lists defaults available to each user, said the US-based tech firm.

"In future software updates, users will get new default settings for dialing phone numbers, sending messages, translating text, navigation, managing passwords, keyboards and call spam filters," said the statement.

The DMA, which took effect in November 2022 to ensure higher and fairer competition in Europe, aims to prevent large firms from abusing market power and allowing new companies to enter the digital industry.

A statement issued by ​​Roskomnadzor, the country's federal telecommunications monitoring service, said the large-scale failure was recorded at 2:00 p.m. local time (1100GMT).

The statement did not specify what caused the failure.

However, Roskomnadzor's press service told state news agency TASS that it had reported the failure of several services in the country, including Telegram and WhatsApp, which was caused by a DDoS attack against Russian telecom operators.

In computing, a distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attack is a malicious cyberattack that disrupts normal web traffic.

The authority said the services are now operating normally.

No reason was given for the move, but it came after the country's Communications Director Fahrettin Altun criticized the social media platform, saying it "is actively preventing people from posting messages of condolences for the passing of Hamas leader [Ismail] Haniyeh without citing any policy violations."

"This is censorship, pure and simple," he said in a post on X on Wednesday after Haniyeh's assassination in Tehran.

"We will defend freedom of speech against these platforms that have showed many times that they are primarily in the service of global exploitative system of injustice," he added.

Haniyeh was assassinated on Wednesday in the Iranian capital Tehran. While Hamas and Iran blamed Israel for the killing, Tel Aviv has not confirmed or denied its responsibility.

After X, formerly Twitter, fulfilled its obligation to designate and notify a representative in Türkiye, the ban was removed, the country's Official Gazette said Friday.

Türkiye, in 2021, implemented a new social media law, under which social media platforms that are accessed over a million times per day are required to appoint local representatives.

If they failed to do so, they were liable for various penalties, including monetary fines, advertising ban and bandwidth reduction.

Türkiye imposed advertising bans on X after the social media giant failed to appoint local representatives in Türkiye in July 2023.

The HB 3 prohibits children under the age of 14 from becoming social media account holders, and allows 14- and 15-year-olds to become account holders with parental consent.

“Social media harms children in a variety of ways,” said DeSantis in a statement released by his office. “HB 3 gives parents a greater ability to protect their children. Thank you to Speaker Renner for delivering this landmark legislation.”

“The internet has become a dark alley for our children where predators target them and dangerous social media leads to higher rates of depression, self-harm, and even suicide,” said House Speaker Paul Renner.

“I am proud of the work of all our bill sponsors, Representatives Tyler Sirois, Fiona McFarland, Michele Rayner, Chase Tramont, and Toby Overdorf for delivering a legislative framework that prioritizes keeping our children safe. Thanks to Governor DeSantis' signature, Florida leads the way in protecting children online as states across the country fight to address these dangers.”

Critics argue the bill is unconstitutional, courts have blocked similar legislation in other states and that it could face legal challenges from the tech industry.

The legislation also protects the ability of Floridians to remain anonymous online, and requires pornographic or sexually explicit websites to use age verification to prevent minors from accessing sites that are inappropriate for children, according to the governor's office.

The state's legislature had passed a bill in February that would have banned children under 16 from social media entirely. DeSantis vetoed that bill, raising concerns on infringement of parental rights. This amended version will take effect on Jan. 1, 2025.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

Users reported abrupt logouts and difficulties while trying to use the platforms.

Many users also experienced issues with the popular messaging app WhatsApp.

No official statement has yet been made from the parent company Meta.

Commenting on the situation, competing social media platform X wrote: "We know why you're all here rn (right now)."

Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) said it is considering adopting regulatory frameworks similar to those implemented in Australia and Canada.

Australia’s Mandatory News Media Bargaining Code, which led Google and Meta to make voluntary compensation agreements with news outlets, served as an example of the importance of fair compensation, the commission said in a statement.

The statement came after a meeting between MCMC officials and representatives from Facebook's parent company Meta and Google.

“Similarly, Canada's Bill C-11 aims to regulate streaming platforms and requires them to support Canadian content,” it added.

The Malaysian officials will also meet representatives from another social media giant TikTok.

Meta and Google have been told to establish a licensing and regulatory framework, the commission said.

It pointed out that child abuse, online gambling, content inciting race, royalty and religious discontent, scams and fishing, sale and promotion of illegal drugs, and spread of disinformation and fake news were some of the challenges posed by the online platforms.

That feat is barely possible for any human if you do not consider what your family wants or needs, according to psychologists.

Women today are faced with unrealistic expectations about “perfect motherhood,” especially because of social media platforms and society itself, said Busra Ceren Erturk, a psychologist in the Turkish capital of Ankara.

There is a perception about women, especially mothers or those planning to be one, that they should give all they have both mentally and physically to be seen as “perfect mothers,” she said.

Social media propagates the image of a perfect mother as the one who is equipped with selflessness and patience, she said, adding that she does not believe that a single type of motherhood has to be the perfect model.

One should not forget that every child comes to the world with different characteristics and needs, she said.

Being a supportive mother by analyzing the expectations of both the child and ourselves matters much more than trying to be “the mother” that is imposed by others, said Erturk.

“I recently watched a movie that said the most valuable thing that a child may have is a healthy mother,” she said, pointing out that acting according to what the outside world says about perfect motherhood would eventually disturb women’s minds.

Mothers are expected to take care of the child all day, play games with them, clean the house, and nurture their child with organic food, while also handling personal staff and their husband’s needs and desires as well, she said.

“This unlikely cycle consumes women and can actually make them intolerant in the long run,” she warned.

“In addition, when even the lowest standards expected of a mother are met by a father, he is chosen as the father of the year,” she said, adding that women, at some point, have to remind themselves that their own needs are as important as the needs of motherhood.

“Because after losing ourselves on the way to perfection and letting down that young woman who dreams of being perfect, we can't stay mentally healthy and most of all we might let down our child at points we didn't even expect,” she said.

Stressing the importance of trying to keep alive personal excitements, and meeting personal needs to be a dynamic mother, Erturk urged women to not forget about themselves.

Moreover, fathers should remember that their roles in their little ones’ lives are as important as the role of mothers, she said, and urged society to adapt to the “new world order” when determining parental duties.

Motherhood is not a race in which women compete with each other, she said.

- ‘Mothers should not aim to be perfect’

Bilge Canan Cukurkavakli, another Turkish psychologist in Ankara, told Anadolu that the meaning of “perfect mother” changes from family to family in accordance with dynamics.

“The expectations of both the mother and child from motherhood” determine the very meaning in every family, she said.

“One child would see a mother who meets their needs as a perfect mother, while another child would see a mother who teaches to meet their needs as a perfect one,” said Cukurkavakli.

But social media platforms play a vital role in defining the concept in our society, she said, adding that mothers become critical about how they perform when they come across other mothers who seem to have endless patience, compassion, energy and understanding toward their children.

“Mothers should not aim to be perfect but to notice the needs of their families and to make an effort in meeting them,” she suggested.

She emphasized that mothers should prioritize their own happiness to reflect it to their little ones afterward.

“Please, do not force yourself to integrate the actions of mothers who seem to be perfect … this will wear you and your family out,” Cukurkavakli said.

“Do not try to be the perfect parent, instead practice need-based parenting,” she said.

Twitter owner Elon Musk tweeted an image of the new X branding beamed onto the side of the social media company’s headquarters in San Francisco, saying: “X.com now points to Twitter.com.”

“X is here! Let’s do this,” Twitter’s CEO Linda Yaccarino tweeted.

On late Saturday, Musk invited his followers to suggest an X logo and on Sunday chose one of the designs.

Reports of outages began to come in at roughly 4 p.m. Eastern Time (2000 GMT), according to the DownDetector website. Nearly 30,000 reports were logged by 4:15 p.m.

Fellow Meta applications Instagram and Facebook were also suffering outages. Instagram appeared to be experiencing problems throughout the day Wednesday while Facebook saw a dramatic spike around the same time that disruptions hit WhatsApp, according to DownDetector's data.

Meta's apps last crashed on July 10, and were down for over an hour, according to data from DownDetector.

Justice Department attorneys are seeking what is known as an “emergency stay” after US District Judge Terry Doughty rejected a motion from the agency to place a hold on a July 4 order he issued that imposed limits on the contacts.

Doughty, a former President Donald Trump nominee, is overseeing a lawsuit brought by Republican officials in Missouri and Louisiana, as well as a conservative website, alleging the administration has been censoring free speech online in its efforts to stymy misinformation surrounding COVID-19.

Justice Department lawyers wrote in a filing with the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals that Doughty's order is far too broad, saying the judge "issued a universal injunction with sweeping language that could be read to prohibit (among other things) virtually any government communication directed at social media platforms regarding content moderation."

They further alleged that Doughty "identified no evidence" to support claims that federal officials threatened social media companies with punitive action if they failed to remove content.

"Indeed, the order denying the stay—presumably highlighting the ostensibly strongest evidence—referred to 'a series of public media statements' and a refusal to comment on a news story," the agency's lawyers wrote.

The Justice Department is requesting a stay from the 5th Circuit while appeals play out, or a 10-day hold on Doughty's order so the matter can be taken up by the Supreme Court.

The news website, Semafor, citing a letter dated Wednesday, reported that Twitter attorney Alex Spiro accused Meta of "systematic" and "unlawful misappropriation" of trade secrets following the launch of the Threads app.

Spiro said the new service was constructed by former Twitter employees who he said were deliberately assigned to create a "copycat" application.

"Twitter intends to strictly enforce its intellectual property rights, and demands that Meta take immediate steps to stop using any Twitter trade secrets or other highly confidential information," said the letter.

"Twitter reserves all rights, including, but not limited to, the right to seek both civil remedies and injunctive relief without further notice," it said.

"Competition is fine, cheating is not," Elon Musk responded to one tweet.

The new Meta service was launched Wednesday.

Meta Communications Director Andy Stone posted on Threads that no one on the app’s engineering team is a former Twitter employee.

The Korea Communications Standards Commission blocked three channels for “making propaganda and targeting Korean audience” on the recommendation of the National Intelligence Service, Seoul-based Yonhap News reported.

“It is our job to respond to the North's psychological campaign," a South Korean intelligence official was quoted as saying by the news agency.

“Sally Parks SongA,” “YuMi Space DPRK daily” and “New DPRK” channels are not available now in South Korea.

Seoul often accuses Pyongyang of spreading anti-Seoul propaganda, while North Korea has sharply reacted to leaflet campaigns across the border with South Korea.

"Send Me Location," Zuckerberg said in an Instagram post, in which he shared a screenshot of a tweet where Musk said “I’m up for a cage match if he is.”

Musk issued the challenge following reports suggesting that Zuckerberg might be introducing a text-based Twitter alternative named "Threads."

"I’m sure Earth can’t wait to be exclusively under Zuck’s thumb with no other options," Musk said on Twitter.

According to a tweet from Alex Heath, an editor at The Verge, a spokesperson for Meta has confirmed that Zuckerberg is serious about fighting Musk.

Later, Musk proposed the "Vegas Octagon" as the location, referring to the UFC Octagon in Las Vegas.

"I have this great move that I call 'The Walrus,' where I just lie on top of my opponent & do nothing," he tweeted.

Asked to respond to recent comments by Twitter's co-founder Jack Dorsey, Musk told reporters in New York late Tuesday that Twitter has no choice but to obey local governments.

Dorsey recently said that India threatened to shut down the social media platform unless it complied with orders to restrict accounts critical of the way Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government handled 2021 farmer protests.

Rejecting Dorsey’s claims, Indian Deputy Minister for Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar called them an “outright lie.”

"If we don't obey local government laws, then we will get shut down. So the best we can do is to work close to the laws in any given country," said Musk, warning that if not, "We will be blocked or arrested."

Saying "one cannot just apply America” to the whole world, Musk added: "We will do our best to provide the freest speech that is possible under the law."

Earlier Musk met with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is in the US on his first state visit.

Musk, also the CEO of Tesla, said Modi is pushing the electric carmaker to make significant investments in India. Asked if Tesla will enter the Indian market, he said he is planning to visit India next year. "I am confident that Tesla will be in India and will do so as soon as humanly possible. I would like to thank the prime minister for his support and hopefully we will be able to announce something in the not-so-distant future," Musk said.

He added: "We do not want to jump the gun on an announcement but I think it is quite likely that it will be a significant investment in our relationship with India in the future." The social media giant owner also praised Modi, saying the Indian premier "really cares about India," and he is "pushing us to make significant investment in India, which is something we intend to do." On Wednesday morning, the Indian Foreign Ministry said that during the meeting Modi invited Musk to explore "opportunities in India for investments in electric mobility and rapidly expanding commercial space sector." Modi arrived in the US on Tuesday on a state visit at the invitation of US President Joe Biden.

In May, Twitter pulled out of the EU’s voluntary anti-disinformation code, but in a Monday interview, he said Twitter will abide by EU laws to combat disinformation and hate speech.

Since he bought the company last year, Musk’s tenure as Twitter chief has been marked by controversy over loosening guardrails against disinformation and abusive speech as well as a sharp drop in the company’s value of about 40%.

Originally from the capital city of Manila in the Philipines, Zainab has been residing in the UAE for more than eight years. Her newfound faith was sparked by her fascination with the Adhan (call to prayer) from the mosques, which she often heard while living in Dubai.

In a ceremony held at the Islamic Information Centre in Satwa, Zainab embraced Islam during the first week of Ramadan. Her conversion has since sparked a buzz on traditional and social media alike.

“When I heard the azan, I felt calm and even memorized some parts of it. This made me curious about the religion," Zainab said in an interview with Khaleej Times.

The Tiktok influence is said to currently be taking online classes from the Islamic Information Centre to learn more about Islam and hopes to complete the course in one month. Additionally, Zainab is studying and memorizing smaller chapters of the Holy Quran.

Zainab said that her family is happy and supportive of her decision. “I feel very nice and very calm inside me. I embraced Islam on my own. No one forced me to accept this religion,” she added.

Zainab's Pakistani friend Salman, who is also a TikToker with two million followers, helped her learn about Islam. The two friends have created several videos together for the social media platform.

“We are friends for five years. In Islam, one cannot be forced to embrace religion. Instead, it’s all about getting the right information and meeting the right people. Sometimes we used to discuss it also as she used to ask me questions time and again. I believe this encouraged her to come into the fold of Islam,” said Salman.

Zainab's followers were thrilled and supportive of her decision. "They were very happy and very supportive of my decision," she said.

A certificate of her new faith has also been issued to Zainab from the Islamic Information Centre in Satwa, which provides information about Islam and offers classes to those interested in learning more about the religion.

The office said on Tuesday that around 1.4 million children in the UK under the minimum age of 13 joined TikTok in 2020, despite the country's rules not allowing children that age to create an account.

"UK data protection law says that organisations that use personal data when offering information society services to children under 13 must have consent from their parents or carers," the ICO noted.

The office added that TikTok failed to obtain permission and to carry out enough controls to identify or remove underage children from its platform.

The large fine comes as TikTok is under fire in a number of countries, including the US and European Union countries, over fears that data from the privately owned platform may be accessed and exploited by the Chinese government.

"Starting April 15th, only verified accounts will be eligible to be in For You recommendations," he wrote on his account. "The (sic) is the only realistic way to address advanced AI bot swarms taking over."

"It is otherwise a hopeless losing battle. Voting in polls will require verification for same reason," he added.

The social media platform's For You tab make recommendations about tweets from other users that they do not follow. Although the recommendations were made to users by using a specific algorithm, the tab could include unverified users, until now.

"That said, it’s ok to have verified bot accounts if they follow terms of service amp; don’t impersonate a human," said Musk.

After the billionaire bought Twitter, he initiated the controversial Twitter Blue subscription service, which required an $8 per month fee to be verified via a blue checkmark on the platform.

Twitter said last Friday it will start removing legacy verified checkmarks, which showed accounts of public interest is authentic, on April 1.

The company said users can now sign up for Twitter Blue to keep their blue checkmark.

Musk also announced last week the blue checkmark verification system, dubbed "Twitter Verified" is now available worldwide.

This decision concerns in particular TikTok, Twitter and Instagram, according to Franceinfo news channel.

Although no "fixed and definitive" list of applications has been decided, as unnamed staff of the minister Stanislas Guerini told the news channel, three major categories are affected. They are "leisure," "gaming" and "streaming" applications.

France is following several Western institutions and governments that have already banned or restricted the use of Chinese social network TikTok on work devices.

The applications affected by the ban "do not have sufficient levels of cybersecurity and data protection," the ministry said in a statement. According to the ministry, they "may pose a risk to the privacy of these administrations and their public employees."

In response to the ban, Chinese Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mao Ning said Friday that the Chinese government "has never asked or will ask any company or individual to collect or hand over data from abroad in a way that violates local laws."

"Twitter Verified now available worldwide!" he tweeted.

Twitter Blue, a paid monthly subscription service that adds a blue checkmark to a user's account, also offers early access to exclusive new features.

They include longer tweets, the ability to edit tweets, 1080p video uploads and custom navigation.

The company said Thursday it is also accepting applications for grey checkmarks for eligible government and multilateral accounts.

Twitter’s verification system had been in existence for 13 years since the platform launched it in 2009 to prevent impersonations of high-profile accounts such as celebrities and politicians.

The move came a week after the usage of the app was banned from all government electronic devices in the UK.

Last Thursday, Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden told the parliament: "The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review.”

TikTok requires users to give permission for the app to access data stored on the device, which is then collected and stored by the company. Allowing such permissions gives the company access to a range of data on the device, including contacts, user content, and geolocation data.

“The government, along with our international partners, is concerned about the way in which this data may be used,” a government statement read.

Chew was grilled by American lawmakers about many practices of the app, from potential national security risks for the US to data mining, users' mental health such as addiction, depression, and anxiety, especially among children and teenagers.

Rep. Kathy Castor, a Democrat from Florida, accused big tech companies of targeting and influencing their users' behavior, and urged the Congress to pass an online data privacy law.

"This is a much broader issue than TikTok in China. There are other malign actors across the world who gather data, use as element of social control and influence," she said.

"Harms to children are very serious and demand swift action. Big tech platforms profit immensely from keeping children addicted. They do not care about the privacy, safety and health of our kids. They are the modern-day tobacco and cigarette companies," she said.

TikTok has a global influence with more than 1 billion monthly active users. Together with its Chinese version Douyin, both versions of the app have over 2.5 billion daily active users in the world.

Rep. John P. Sarbanes, a Democrat from Maryland, said: "More time middle and high schoolers spend on social media ... they are to experience depression and anxiety," noting that 16% of American teenagers reported they used TikTok "almost constantly" -- around 5 million teenagers in the nation.

"We know that big tech, including TikTok, uses design features that can manipulate users including children and teens to keep them engaged, designed to feed them a never-ending stream of content, to keep their attention for hours, which includes capitalizing on the desire for others' approval," he explained.

Rep. Bill Johnson, a Republican from Ohio, argued that TikTok is "attempting to mislead Americans about what their technology is capable of and who has access to their information.

Chew argued that majority of content on Tiktok is "fun, entertaining, informative and very positive for users," adding: "Other companies that operate in this country, we have to deal with some bad actors who come and publish some illegal drugs."

"The TikTok user experience should be compared to other US companies," he added, noting that his home country Singapore has "almost no" illegal drug content because it has very strict drug laws.

- TikTok to be banned from UK parliamentary devices

The British parliament announced earlier that TikTok will be blocked from all parliamentary devices and internet servers.

Several US states have already banned TikTok on government-issued devices amid alleged potential security risks.

Rep. Tim Walberg, a Republican from Michigan, noted that TikTok is valued at more than $50 billion, and questioned whether the company has ties with the Chinese Communist Party.

"What is your relationship to the Communist Party, which is our major concern. What impact that would be ... with a communist party that does not care about America and sees us standing in their way for superpower. That's our concern," he said.

Walberg went further to state that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance's employees in Beijing have access to American users' data.

Chew said Chinese engineers have access to global data, but storage has always been in Singapore and Virginia, US.

He noted that TikTok spent $1.5 billion in past two years on project tests, which have revolved around addressing the US government's concerns about its data usage.

The CEO refused that the Chinese Communist Party has access to users' data and said: "This is a private business. Like many other businesses, many other American companies rely on the global workforce," and added the workforce does not have ties to the Chinese Communist Party.

When Rep. Earl "Buddy" Carter, a Republican from Georgia, asked about what type of data TikTok gathers, Chew said the company does not collect body, face, voice data to identify its users.

Rep. Deborah Ann Dingell, a Democrat from Michigan, asked whether TikTok has sold "precise GPS information collected from US users," Chew said his company does not sell information to data brokers.

Rep. Lisa Blunt Rochester, a Democrat from Delaware, argued that TikTok has "personalized data advertising for kids" and said engineers in China has access to personal data of 13-year-olds in the US.

Rep. Debbie Lesko, a Republican from Arizona, asked Chew if he agrees that the Chinese government has prosecuted the Uyghur population, reminding that a TikTok user's account was suspended after putting a video on the social media sharing app.

TikTok user Feroza Aziz, 17, who lives in New Jersey, in her late 2019 video blasted China’s treatment of Uyghur Muslim population.

While Aziz made her political comments in a video about her tips on eyelash improvement to prevent censorship from the social media app, TikTok argued that one of her previous videos briefly showed a photo of Osama bin Laden.

China's northwestern Xinjiang autonomous region is home to around 10 million Uyghurs, as the Turkic Muslim group makes up around 45% of Xinjiang’s population. It has long been accusing China of cultural and religious discrimination, a claim rejected by Chinese officials.

Rep. Darren Soto, a Democrat from Florida, asked Chew whether TikTok is prepared to divest itself from its parent firm ByteDance and its ties from Chinese Communist Party.

"I don't think the ownership is the issue here. With a lot of respect, American social (media) companies don't have a good track record with data privacy and user security. I mean look at Facebook and Cambridge Analytica, just one example," he said.

"So, I do think it is not about ownership, it is a lot about making sure that we are protecting and firewalling US user data from foreign access," and added that he would be comfortable to monitoring from third parties.

Facebook CEO and co-founder Mark Zuckerberg was grilled before the Senate Intelligence Committee in March 2018 when he was asked about the 2016 US elections regarding fake news and the alleged Russian interference.

Although Zuckerberg had said Facebook was not on top of issues during the 2016 US elections, he admitted that his company has a "lot of work to make it harder for nation states to do election interference."

Facebook's parent firm, lately branded as Meta, agreed in December 2022 to pay $725 million to settle a class-action lawsuit amid the Cambridge Analytica data leak scandal, which involved providing third-party access to user data without their consent.

Rep. Mike Pence, a Republican from Indiana and former vice president under ex-President Donald Trump, accused Chew of "stalling."

"You're just trying to buy time while you're making the $18 billion ... it is your duty to pay attention to what you're doing and maybe you paying people for the information that you're getting from to get that done," he told.

The amount Pence referred to was based on a projection that TikTok revenue from advertisement is estimated to amount $18 billion this year. Other projections expect the figure to come in at around $15 billion this year.

According to information received by Anadolu correspondent, the Personal Data Protection Authority (KVKK) slapped an administrative fine of 2.6 million liras ($140,000) on each firm.

The KVKK also ordered Meta and WhatsApp to enroll in the registry within 30 days.

Cabinet Office Minister Oliver Dowden told MPs that TikTok would be banned on security grounds with immediate effect, and the ban applies to government corporate devices within all government departments.

"The security of sensitive government information must come first, so today we are banning this app on government devices. The use of other data-extracting apps will be kept under review," he said in a statement.

The move follows similar rules by the US, Canada, Belgium, as well as EU institutions, where authorities have asked to uninstall the app amid security concerns that data may be accessed by China.

"Restricting the use of TikTok on Government devices is a prudent and proportionate step following advice from our cyber security experts," said Dowden.

While the ban does not extend to personal devices for government employees, ministers or the general public, the statement warned that individuals should be aware of each social media platform’s data policies.

Co-founder and CEO Mark Zuckerberg wrote in a blog post that the restructuring plans are focused on canceling lower priority projects and reducing hiring rates.

"With less hiring, I’ve made the difficult decision to further reduce the size of our recruiting team,” he said. “We expect to announce restructurings and layoffs in our tech groups in late April, and then our business groups in late May. In a small number of cases, it may take through the end of the year to complete these changes.”

Zuckerberg dubbed 2023 the year of "efficiency," saying the cuts serve to build "a leaner, more technical company" and added: "In our Year of Efficiency, we will make our organization flatter by removing multiple layers of management."

Meta laid off more than 11,000 employees in November, cutting its workforce by 13%.

The company’s stock price was up 5.6% to $191.12 at 9.50 a.m. EDT on the Nasdaq after the announcement. It closed Monday at $180.90 a share.

"Online rhetoric has spilled into real-world terror, with military supporters using social media to harass and incite violence against pro-democracy activists and human rights defenders," they said in a statement.

"Women have been targeted and severely harmed," they added.

The experts said that pro-junta accounts regularly use hateful, sexualized and discriminatory rhetoric in an attempt to discredit women activists and human rights defenders.

"Gendered abuse has caused many women to cut back their online activism and retreat from public life," they said.

The UN experts warned that messaging and social media platforms – particularly Telegram – have become a hotbed of pro-military activity.

"Since the coup, pro-junta actors have taken advantage of Telegram's lax approach to content moderation and gaps in its terms of service," they said.

"They have attracted tens of thousands of followers by posting violent and misogynistic content."

The experts noted that women are often targets of so-called "doxing," publishing private information about individuals without their consent, including names and addresses.

Calls for violence or arrest by junta forces frequently accompany these attacks.

- ‘Doxxed’ women

"Doxxed" women have also been accused of having sexual relations with Muslim men or supporting the Muslim population – a common ultranationalist, discriminatory and Islamophobic narrative in Myanmar, said the experts.

"Failing to cement its grip on power by locking up political prisoners and gunning down peaceful protesters, the junta has escalated its ruthless suppression of dissent to virtual spaces," they said.

They explained that the junta was terrified of women's power to mobilize resistance to military rule in online spaces.

"Every day, women are being threatened online with sexualized violence because they are standing up for human rights, opposing the military's attempted rule, and fighting for a return to a democratic path," said the experts.

"’Doxxing' and other forms of online harassment add to the multiple threats that women activists, human rights defenders and independent associations are already facing in Myanmar," they said.

After being made aware of these offenses and shortly before publishing critical reports detailing abuse on its platform, Telegram blocked at least 13 pro-military accounts, although at least one of the worst offending channels is back online.

While welcoming Telegram's recent actions, the experts said more is needed.

"Unless Telegram fundamentally changes its approach to content moderation in Myanmar, it is likely that pro-military actors will simply open new accounts and continue their campaign of harassment," they said.

The experts urged Telegram and other social media platforms to meet their responsibilities to identify, prevent and mitigate human rights abuses.

The experts include Thomas Andrews, Special Rapporteur on human rights in Myanmar; Ana Brian Nougrères, Special Rapporteur on the right to Privacy; Reem Alsalem, Special Rapporteur on violence against women and girls; Mary Lawlor, Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders; and Clément Nyaletsossi Voule, Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly.

The National Security Council decided to forbid ministers, and all federal employees to use the social media platform on their professional devices, public broadcaster RTBF reported.

The government recommended that officials remove the application from their personal phones and tablets too.

The decision urged regional and local authorities to introduce similar interdiction for their personnel and called for vigilance in the private sector.

The Flemish regional government banned the application for its employees on Thursday, and the Wallonian government will discuss the measures later this month.

The move came after EU institutions and several governments, such as France and Canada, instructed their officials to uninstall TikTok amid security concerns that the application may give access to the Chinese secret service.

Nearly 8,400 problems were reported, according Downdetector, a website that tracks outages and other problems with websites and media services.

Links posted to Twitter led users to a blank page with text referring to Twitter's API, which is what the website uses to communicate with outside web pages. Videos and images also failed to load.

Many of the problems appear to have been resolved an hour and a half after they began to be reported around 11:30 am Eastern Time (1630 GMT).

The European Commission will “suspend the use of the TikTok application on its corporate devices” and personal ones linked to the institution’s system, the EU executive body said in a statement.

In practical terms, employees will have to remove the short video-sharing app from their devices used for work.

The measures aim to protect the institutions and EU officials from “cybersecurity threats and actions which may be exploited for cyberattacks,” the statement further said.

The European Commission’s chief spokesperson Eric Mamer declined to reveal if the decision was taken because the EU body received warnings from intelligence services or detected security breaches.

The move came amid growing concerns in Western countries that Chinese technology companies cooperate with Chinese security services in collecting data and information.

The role of social media platforms in psychological warfare has always been controversial. What is psychological warfare? What is Twitter's role as a US propaganda machine? Read on for answers and insight.

- What is psychological warfare?

Psychological warfare is a tactic that includes the use of propaganda to demoralize and intimidate opponents without using physical force.

It is also used as a strategy to manipulate the media and lead to changes in human behavior.

States often apply psychological warfare in politics to justify policies and influence opinions.

Such methods can also seek to cause mental distress to opponents by fueling anxiety, fear, and panic, leading to an erosion of their self-confidence.

Today, naval warfare and ground battles are also supported by psychological warfare, which can be described in occupied territories as the systematic process of influencing opinions in the society and actions of the people.

Both traditional and social media have become the main actors in psychological warfare.

- What is the role of Twitter in psychological warfare?

Public perception management through social media platforms like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram is a significant part of the toolkit in modern psychological warfare.

Especially on Twitter, fake accounts are known to be created with the aim of influencing users' beliefs and opinions.

Since Elon Musk's takeover of the platform last year, multiple revelations have shown how Twitter became a medium for conducting psychological warfare.

The files, revealed by some journalists like Matt Taibbi, Bari Weiss, and Michael Shellenberger, proved that Twitter worked with the US military.

The internal files also revealed how Twitter restricted the visibility of some accounts, as well as the process of banning the account of former US President Donald Trump. The US military also had the campaign to amplify its propaganda on Twitter.

Files also explained how previous Twitter officials cooperated with the FBI, Pentagon, and CIA to implement censorship measures.

- Did Twitter help US with its propaganda campaign in Middle East?

The Twitter Files made the headlines across the world. They included documents released by independent journalist Lee Fang showing how the social media giant helped US intelligence officials in their covert online propaganda campaign.

Fang said that though Twitter claimed it did not allow US-backed propaganda operations, the company did not prevent the activities of the US Central Command (CENTCOM), despite being aware of them.

Twitter gave its approval to accounts created by CENTCOM aimed at shaping opinion and conducting psychological warfare in some Middle Eastern countries.

This censorship policy dates back to five years ago, when some accounts were removed from the site for working against the interests of the US in the Middle East.

Twitter also worked with the Pentagon to run the US military's propaganda activities in the region.

Some state-backed accounts, meanwhile, were whitelisted, preventing them from being suspended.

Fang also noted that Twitter did not bar those accounts despite being aware of the US Department of Defense's large networks of fake accounts and secret propaganda profiles.

At the request of the US government, those propaganda accounts were given the privilege of verification, amounting to protection by the company.

New revelations will likely continue to flow from Twitter in the upcoming days.

Considering the role of Twitter in social movements and its impact on psychological warfare, it can be said that the legitimacy of the social media platform will come increasingly under question.

* The author is a head of the department of visual communication design at Marmara University

Those who visited the @ElonJet profile were greeted with: “Account suspended: Twitter suspends accounts that violate the Twitter Rules.”

The popular bot account was run by Jack Sweeney, a freshman at the University of Central Florida, who previously claimed that the account’s visibility was “limited/restricted to a severe degree internally.”

The account, which amassed more than half a million followers, was tracking Musk’s plane’s location using public data.

The suspension came one month after Musk underscored his dedication to “free speech” in a tweet.

“My commitment to free speech extends even to not banning the account following my plane, even though that is a direct personal safety risk,” he wrote.

Members of the body were informed in an email that the council was no longer "the best structure" to bring "external insights into our product and policy development work," the Washington Post reported.

This email arrived shortly before members of the council were expecting a video meeting with Twitter representatives to discuss recent developments, said the report, citing sources familiar with the matter who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

"We are grateful for your engagement, advice and collaboration in recent years and wish you every success in the future," said the email.

According to one unnamed council member, the move amounted to throwing away "years of institutional memory that we on the council have brought" to the company.

Twitter formed the advisory group in 2016 to make the platform safer and to address hate speech, child exploitation, suicide, self-harm, and other problems.

It comprised some 100 members of independent civil, human rights, and other organizations.

Musk's ownership of Twitter, now rounding out its first month, has been marked by widespread chaos at the company, as he seeks to make it profitable through mass layoffs and by introducing policies that have been met with widespread internal opposition.

"Twitter will soon start freeing the name space of 1.5 billion accounts," Musk wrote on his account. "These are obvious account deletions with no tweets amp; no log in for years."

The move follows Musk's confirmation in November that he will purge accounts that have not been active in the last 15 years when he wrote: "Please note that Twitter will do lots of dumb things in coming months. We will keep what works amp; change what doesn’t." on Nov. 9.

He also agreed with a post in October that suggested an account gets deleted if it has been inactive for more than a year.

Musk announced Nov. 30 that Twitter has begun removing spam accounts -- an issue he had strongly raised before buying Twitter for $44 billion at the end of October.

Twitter's average monetizable daily active usage was 237.8 million in the second quarter, up 16.6% compared to the same period last year, according to a financial results statement released July 22.

"The increase was driven by ongoing product improvements and global conversation around current events," the statement said.

Since taking over Twitter, Musk has been making swift and controversial changes for the social media company, from ending remote work for staff to cutting half of its workforce.

Titling the post "Twitter’s Secret Blacklists," Weiss, who runs The Free Press, tweeted: “A new #TwitterFiles investigation reveals that teams of Twitter employees build blacklists, prevent disfavored tweets from trending, and actively limit the visibility of entire accounts or even trending topics—all in secret, without informing users.”

She said Twitter once had a mission "to give everyone the power to create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers," but along the way, barriers were erected.

Twitter, however, denied that it places accounts on blacklist, she said, adding that in 2018, Vijaya Gadde, then head of legal policy and trust, and Kayvon Beykpour, head of product, said: "We do not shadow ban," "And we certainly don’t shadow ban based on political viewpoints or ideology."

“What many people call ‘shadow banning,’ Twitter executives and employees call ‘Visibility Filtering’ or ‘VF.’,” the journalist who has written for the New York Times and Wall Street Journal, explained, noting that number of “high-level sources” confirmed what the phrase means.

“’Think about visibility filtering as being a way for us to suppress what people see to different levels. It’s a very powerful tool,’ one senior Twitter employee told us,” she stressed, adding: “’VF’ refers to Twitter’s control over user visibility.”

“It used VF to block searches of individual users; to limit the scope of a particular tweet’s discoverability; to block select users’ posts from ever appearing on the ‘trending’ page; and from inclusion in hashtag searches,” she said.

“We control visibility quite a bit. And we control the amplification of your content quite a bit. And normal people do not know how much we do,’ one Twitter engineer told us,” she underlined, pointing out that two other Twitter employees also confirmed it.

She said the group that decided whether to limit the reach of certain users was the Strategic Response Team - Global Escalation Team, or SRT-GET, which generally dealt with around 200 "cases" a day.

Weiss said there was another level beyond that, the ‘Site Integrity Policy, Policy Escalation Support,’ or ‘SIP-PES.’ This "secret group" included Gadde, Global Head of Trust amp; Safety Yoel Roth, subsequent CEOs Jack Dorsey and Parag Agrawal, and others.

“This is where the biggest, most politically sensitive decisions got made. ‘Think high follower account, controversial,’ another Twitter employee told us. For these ‘there would be no ticket or anything,’" she wrote.

Underscoring that their investigation still continues as the documents “cannot tell the whole story,” Weiss called on former Twitter employees to reach out to her or her team to reveal more about what happens behind the scene.

The first set of documents detailed Twitter’s decision to restrict an October 2020 New York Post story on the Hunter Biden laptop controversy.

Billionaire Elon Musk, who completed his takeover of Twitter in October, retweeted Weiss' post, saying: "The Twitter Files, Part Deux!!" along with popcorn emojis.

In another tweet, he said Twitter is working on a software update that will "show your true account status, so you know clearly if you’ve been shadowbanned, the reason why and how to appeal."

The US-based tech firm said "there are areas that require legal clarification from the European Court of Justice" as the EU claims Android restricts competition and consumer choice in mobile industry.

"Android has created more choice for everyone, not less, and supports thousands of successful businesses in Europe and around the world," Google said in a statement.

The company earlier appealed to the European Court of Justice’s General Court, which lowered the original €4.34 billion ($4.55 billion) fine – the largest-ever penalty by the European Commission.

The record fine is one of three antitrust lawsuits of the European Commission against Google between 2017 and 2019, which total more than €9 billion ($9.44 billion).

While the 27-nation bloc tries to limit the scope of tech giants, Google claims its Android system paved the way for cheaper mobile devices and applications.

"The people have spoken. Amnesty begins next week,” Musk tweeted under a poll he launched this week, adding “Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” which is a Latin phrase that means "the voice of the people is the voice of God."

"Should Twitter offer a general amnesty to suspended accounts, provided that they have not broken the law or engaged in egregious spam?" the poll asked users.

The poll garnered 3.1 million votes, with 72.4% of the respondents voting yes, while 27.6% voted no.

Musk has already reinstated several accounts that were banned for violating Twitter's rules, including those of former President Donald Trump, congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kanye West.

Trump was banned for violating rules against inciting violence for his tweets during the Jan. 6, 2021 Capitol insurrection. Greene was suspended after repeatedly sharing coronavirus misinformation while West's account was locked for posting anti-Semitic tweets, including threatening "death con 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE."

Musk's ownership of Twitter, now rounding out its first month, has been marked by widespread chaos at the company as he seeks to make the service profitable by instituting mass layoffs and attempting to institute policies that have been met with widespread internal opposition on the platform leading to additional staff losses, or quickly rolled back.

After Musk scrapped the site’s verification policies, “verified” fake accounts are getting a lot of attention, much to the chagrin of the companies and personalities they are spoofing.

The flood of impersonator accounts, including fake profiles for former US President George W. Bush and NBA star LeBron James, follows Musk’s decision to offer the platform’s blue check mark to any user for a $7.99 monthly subscription, instead of only verified accounts that are of public interest.

The fee he promised to implement was launched so users can verify accounts with the coveted blue check mark.

Shortly after Twitter rolled out the subscription service on Wednesday, a blue tick account pretending to be Bush tweeted “I miss killing Iraqis” accompanied by a sad-face emoji.

An account impersonating former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair retweeted the post, adding: “Same tbh (to be honest).”

Trolls also impersonated prominent sports figures, including Los Angeles Lakers forward James, with his fake profile announcing he had requested a transfer to another team.

The event will be held for those who will be unable to attend in person a yearly memorial at Ataturk's mausoleum, Anitkabir, in the capital Ankara on Nov. 10.

Visitors from all over the world as well as in Türkiye will be able to participate in the event to begin at 9.05 a.m. Turkish time (0605GMT) and pay their respects with their digital avatars, followed by the Turkish National Anthem.

The model of Anitkabir that will host the virtual event was created with a program developed by Turkish defense and aerospace technology firm BITES.

Users will be able to attend the event with others and interact with each other via their customizable avatars.

A virtual room containing photos of Ataturk will also be available.

Those who intend to join the event, which will continue until the end of the month, are required to register for free at bitesevent.xperexpo.com/register.

"I want to take accountability for these decisions and for how we got here," Zuckerberg wrote in a letter to employees on Wednesday.

"I know this is tough for everyone, and I’m especially sorry to those impacted."

Meta joined other tech firms, such as Snap, and Twitter that laid off employees amid inflation and recession fears.

"We are also taking a number of additional steps to become a leaner and more efficient company by cutting discretionary spending and extending our hiring freeze through Q1," Zuckerberg said.

On how the company came to this point, he explained that during the pandemic, the world rapidly moved online and many people projected that this acceleration would continue even after the pandemic ended.

"I did too, so I made the decision to significantly increase our investments. Unfortunately, this did not play out the way I expected. Not only has online commerce returned to prior trends, but the macroeconomic downturn, increased competition, and ads signal loss have caused our revenue to be much lower than I’d expected. I got this wrong, and I take responsibility for that," he said.

Following the announcement, Meta stock futures went up by over 4.5%.

Over the last 12 months, its price fell by 71.24%.

"We're aware that some of you are having issues accessing your Instagram account. We're looking into it and apologize for the inconvenience. #instagramdown," said the company on Twitter.

The Downdetector.com website, which tracks worldwide access problems, said the online photo-sharing and social networking service has seen a shortage of access since the morning.

One chart shows more than 7,000 users reported the service was down around 10.17 a.m. Eastern time (1417GMT).

According to multiple reports, a spokesperson for Meta that owns Instagram, said the company is aware that the users have issues in different parts of the world.

"We’re working to resolve the issue as quickly as possible and apologize for the inconvenience," said the spokesperson in a statement.

Users who flooded Twitter about the issue asked the company why their accounts were deleted or disabled, and demanded Instagram restore them.

On Tuesday, hundreds of thousands of users reported that they were unable to send messages or make calls via the app.

Meta, which owns Whatsapp, acknowledged the problem and said it was fixing it.

The company, which also owns Facebook and Instagram, did not share the reason behind the outage.

Nearly 2 billion users are on Whatsapp making it an important tool for communication for businesses and governments the world over.

According to the technology firm Ookla’s website Downdetector, the outage started at around 10.00 a.m. (GMT0700).

Some 95% of thousands of reports claimed that users cannot send and receive messages.

Users also shared posts on social media platforms to report the issue.

There have been no official statements from the parent firm Meta yet.

The announcement came as private equity firm Thoma Bravo told Twitter it was interested in launching a competing bid, Reuters reported.

The poison pill strategy allows existing shareholders to buy additional shares of the company's stock at a reduced price, which would dilute Musk's existing share of the company. The strategy is intended to prevent anyone from being able to establish a more than 15% share in Twitter.

It would take effect if any shareholder reaches or surpasses the 15% threshold.

The plan does not itself stop Musk's bid, but it could make it costlier.

Musk on Thursday made public his proposal to buy Twitter for $54.20 per share, which amounts to a total of about $43 billion.

The decision comes after Musk, the founder of electric carmaker Tesla and space exploration company SpaceX, announced on April 4 that he bought a 9.2% share in Twitter, becoming the social media platform’s biggest investor.

Musk noted that his offer is final, and said that if it is not accepted, he would need to reconsider his position as a shareholder.

"Twitter has extraordinary potential. I will unlock it," he said in a regulatory filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Musk is the world's richest man, according to Forbes, which places his net worth at about $265 billion.

This figure is equal to 58.4% of the world’s population, showed the report by the New York-based agency We Are Social and social media management firm Hootsuite.

With 2.91 billion users, Facebook claimed the world's most favorite social media platform title in January.

It was followed by YouTube with 2.56 billion users, WhatsApp with 2 billion, Instagram with 1.48 billion, WeChat with 1.26 billion, and TikTok with 1 billion.

The January report showed that social media accounted for the largest single share of connected media time with an average of 2 hours and 27 minutes per day.

The time people spend on social media grew 2 minutes per day or 1.4% compared to the same period of the last year.

"However, social media’s share of overall internet time has actually fallen slightly since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, largely because people have embraced a variety of new online activities over the past two years," it said.

YouTube accounted for the largest time spent on social media apps on Android phones, and it also clocked the highest average time per user with nearly a full day – 23.7 hours.

Facebook and TikTok followed it with 19.6 hours in terms of total time spent, WhatsApp with 18.6 hours, and Instagram 11.2 hours.

Meanwhile, the report revealed that the greatest time spent on the internet on mobiles among users aged 16 to 64 was in the Philippines with 5 hours and 47 minutes.