Friday 16th July

Instagram admits moderation mistake over racist comments 

  • Instagram has admitted a mistake in its technology meant racist comments and emojis were not removed. 
  • After a flood of racist abuse, it was directed at England footballers Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho following the men’s Euro 2020 final. 
  • Instagram boss Adam Mosseri said content had “mistakenly” been identified as within guidelines instead of referred to human moderators. 
  • The issue had now been fixed, he said.
  • For the full story, select here.

Users will soon be able to use WhatsApp without their phone 

  • WhatsApp is testing a new feature that will let people message without using their phone for the first time. 
  • At present, WhatsApp is linked to a user’s phone. It’s desktop and web apps need that device to be connected to receive messages. 
  • But the new feature will let users send and receive messages “even if your phone battery is dead”. 
  • Up to four other devices – including PCs and tablets – can be used together, WhatsApp said.
  • For the full story, select here. 

Facebook and Instagram Launch $1bn creator fund  

  • Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has ringfenced a billion-dollar creator fund to incentivise creators to stay with Facebook and Instagram  
  • This release of funs is largely considered a statement of intent by the social network to reward those who win views, with an emphasis on people who are new to both platforms.  
  • This money aims to ensure eligible creators are rewarded directly for reaching agreed milestones such as the number of interactions and/or views.
  • For the full story, select here.

Two-child benefits cap cuts support for over 1 million children during pandemic

  • More than a million children have been affected by the government’s two-child limit on benefits during the pandemic, according to new figures. 
  • The official data shows that in April this year, 1.1 million children living in 318,000 households were hit by the cap, which limits universal credit and tax credits to the first two children in a household. 
  • The number of households affected by the two-child limit increased by 67,000, or 27%, from the figures to April 2020, and was almost double that of 2019.  
  • The figures include children conceived before and during the pandemic.
  • For the full story, select here.