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1. Canada is coming for TikTok, as the country banned the use of the app on government-issued mobile devices. Canada cited data security concerns and joined several other countries and states that have cited concerns over the Chinese-based parent company ByteDance and its relationship with China's ruling Communist Party. |
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2. Snapchat officially launched its AI chatbot through OpenAI's Chat GPT for its paid subscribers. Snapchat+ users can use the chatbot to answer trivia questions and recommend birthday ideas/gifts or weekend plans. |
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3. Teens increasingly spend more time on their social media screens, with a new study from the American Psychological Association finding that limiting screen time to only an hour a day can reduce anxiety and improve self-esteem. The move comes as some have joined the movement to unplug from social apps at least once a week. |
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4. Meta will fund a new organization called Take It Down with an aim to better protect minors from having their intimate images shared online. The online system will help stop the spread of non-consensual images, often also known as revenge porn. |
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5. Zili, a rival short-form video app to TikTok, will shut down on March 13. The app, which had grown following India's ban on TikTok, will be deleted from servers amid an "operational adjustment" from its parent company and smartphone maker Xiaomi. |
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6. Houseparty co-founder Ben Rubin raised $25.5M in Series A funding for a new social Web3 group chat called Here Not There Labs. The company is building an open-sourced protocol on the Ethereum blockchain designed to allow users to create their own fully decentralized community group page. |
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7. YouTube is testing its new audio features geared toward helping creators. The new feature will let creators dub their content in multiple languages, allowing easier access to potential global audiences. |
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