A personal device of the former Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, had been compromised by a security breach, and it was claimed that it could not be switched on to recover messages. At the beginning of 2022, it was revealed that San Diego–based startup Boldend had developed tools to hack WhatsApp’s encryption, gaining access to user data, at some point since the startup’s inception in 2017. On November 29, 2021, an FBI document was uncovered by Rolling Stone, revealing that WhatsApp responds to warrants and subpoenas from law enforcement within minutes, providing user metadata to the authorities. This new encryption feature added an additional layer of protection to chat backups stored either on Apple iCloud or Google Drive. The new privacy policy would not apply within the EU, as it is illegal under the GDPR. On December 16, 2020, a claim that WhatsApp gave Google access to private messages was included in the anti-trust case against the latter.

According to the research, Instagram has a higher impact on appearance comparison than TikTok or Snapchat. The leak included presentations seen by company executives, and the findings mentioned CEO Mark Zuckerberg in 2020. Instagram caused the userbase to fall into outrage with the December 2018 update.

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Instagram was one of the last freely available global social media sites in Iran. The Cuban government blocked access to several social media platforms, including Instagram, to curb the spread of information during the 2021 Cuban protests. The Iranian government offered moderators bribes up to $9,000 to delete specific accounts, with Masih Alinejad being targeted in particular.

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In September 2024, Instagram added a sticker editor which allows users to cut out elements of photos and send them privately. This setting can be changed to allow unlimited messages from other accounts that the user does not follow. Users can now only receive one direct message from accounts that they do not follow, and must approve the message request before further messages can be sent. In March 2021, a feature was added that prevents adults from messaging users under 18 who do not follow them as part of a series of new child safety policies.

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In April 2016, Instagram released a Windows 10 Mobile app, after years of demand from Microsoft and the public to release an app for the platform. Furthermore, one row of pictures only has three instead of five photos to match the mobile layout. In June 2015, the desktop website user interface was redesigned to become more flat and minimalistic, but with more screen space for each photo and to resemble the layout of Instagram’s mobile website.

VSCO: Photo Editor & Presets

The company will put suggested posts ahead of posts from people who the user is following in the Instagram feed, citing positive reception as the reason for this change. On June 23, 2021, Instagram announced a test change to the “suggested posts” feature. Since 2017, Instagram has employed the ability to reduce the prominence of accounts (“shadowbanning”) it believes may be generating non-genuine engagement and spam (including excessive use of unneeded hashtags), preventing posts from appearing in search results and in the app’s Explore section. However, in December 2021, Adam Mosseri, in a Senate hearing on child safety issues, stated that the company is developing a version of the feed that would show user posts in chronological order. Instagram said the algorithm was designed so that users would see more of the photos by users that they liked, but there was significant negative feedback, with many users asking their followers to turn on post notifications in order to make sure they see updates. In October 2015, it released Boomerang, a video app that combines photos into short, one-second videos that play back-and-forth in a loop.

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The application can store encrypted copies of the chat messages onto the SD card, but chat messages are also stored unencrypted in the SQLite database file “msgstore.db”. The feature has to be turned on by the user and provides the option to encrypt the backup either with a password or a 64-digit encryption key. WhatsApp automatically compares all the phone numbers from the device’s address book with its central database of WhatsApp users to automatically add contacts to the user’s WhatsApp contact list.

Since the app’s launch it had used the Foursquare API technology to provide named location tagging. Britain’s Office of Fair Trading approved the deal on August 14, 2012, and on August 22, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission in the U.S. closed its investigation, allowing the deal to proceed. On April 9, 2012, Facebook, Inc. (now Meta Platforms) bought Instagram for $1 billion (equivalent to $1,346,000,000 in 2024) in cash and stock, with a plan to keep the company independently daman game download managed.

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Users can take photos and edit them using built-in filters and other tools, then share them on other social media platforms like Facebook. Instagrama is an American photo and short-form video sharing social networking service owned by Meta Platforms. The developer has not yet indicated which accessibility features this app supports.

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They appear as circles below the profile picture and biography and are accessible from the desktop website as well. In August 2023, Instagram introduced new adjustments to protect user privacy and prevent harassment and spam. After the update (which is rolled out to a segment of the user base) the Instagram Direct icon transforms into Facebook Messenger icon.

• Instagram denied intentional censorship and attributed the deletion of Palestinian posts to glitches.
• Paid verification allowed eligible Instagram users to request verification for their accounts via paying a fee, rather than relying solely on meeting the platform’s traditional criteria for verification.
• WhatsApp was announced to be the 3rd most downloaded mobile phone app of the decade 2010–2019.

In May 2017, Instagram once again updated the Explore tab to promote public Stories content from nearby places. The trends deemed the most popular on the platform often highlight a specific day of the week to post the material on. In November, Instagram began to support Alt text to add descriptions of photos for the visually impaired. In September 2011, a new version of the app included new and live filters, instant tilt–shift, high-resolution photographs, optional borders, one-click rotation, and an updated icon. Users can set their account as “private”, thereby requiring that they approve any new follower requests.

The Verge wrote that cybersecurity firm RepKnight had found contact information for multiple actors, musicians, and athletes, and singer Selena Gomez’s account was used by the hackers to post naked photos of her ex-boyfriend Justin Bieber. In August 2017, reports surfaced that a bug in Instagram’s developer tools had allowed “one or more individuals” to gain access to the contact information, specifically email addresses and phone numbers, of several high-profile verified accounts, including its most followed user, Selena Gomez. On August 9, 2012, English musician Ellie Goulding released a new music video for her song “Anything Could Happen”. The system is built using a Facebook-developed deep learning algorithm known as DeepText (first implemented on the social network to detect spam comments), which utilizes natural-language processing techniques, and can also filter by user-specified keywords.

• In December, the company began rolling out the abilities for users to turn off the comments and, for private accounts, remove followers.
• In the U.S., there is relatively little government regulation of social media content, with most content removal taking place on a voluntary basis by the companies.
• Mosseri stated that this was intended to have users “worry a little bit less about how many likes they’re getting on Instagram and spend a bit more time connecting with the people that they care about.” It has been argued that low numbers of likes in relativity to others could contribute to a lower self-esteem in users.
• In March 2019, WhatsApp released a guide for users who had installed unofficial modified versions of WhatsApp and warned that it may ban those using unofficial clients.

In September 2017, WhatsApp’s co-founder Brian Acton left the company to start a nonprofit group, later revealed as the Signal Foundation, which developed the WhatsApp competitor Signal. On May 18, 2017, the European Commission announced that it was fining Facebook €110 million for “providing misleading information about WhatsApp takeover” in 2014. (The word “telegram” appeared in WhatsApp’s code.) Some considered it an anti-competitive measure; WhatsApp offered no explanation. These could be a social networking service like Facebook, a messaging service, maybe search and other things like weather.

Subsequent episodes in June and August 2024 featured Reneé Rapp, Rachel Sennott, Megan Thee Stallion and GloRilla. These changes are ostensibly an attempt to hinder the spread of misinformation, while Instagram has also repeatedly stated that hashtags do not help posts get views. In April 2022, Instagram began testing the removal of the ability to see “recent” posts from various hashtags. In May 2021, Instagram began allowing users in some regions to add pronouns to their profile page. In March 2021, Instagram launched a new feature in which four people can go live at once.