In mid-August, some Twitter users noticed that they were able to follow curated topics using the company's mobile app. The new feature was part of a test that helped users fill their feeds with the content they're interested in, though most users didn't have access to it. That has finally changed with a new announcement from the company: all Twitter users can now follow topics.
In a long tweet thread on Wednesday, company CEO Jack Dorsey announced that Twitter will no longer allow political advertising on its platform across the globe. The decision is based on 'a few reasons,' according to Dorsey, the main point being that 'we believe political message reach should be earned, not bought.' The decision comes amid growing concerns over the role social media platforms have in how political messages -- and related misinformation and propaganda -- spread.
In mid-August, Twitter introduced a new feature that enabled users to filter DMs that may contain offensive content and other unwanted messages. The tool was launched as a test, one that has apparently proven fruitful. In an update on the feature today, Twitter revealed that it has rolled out the DM filter for all users on multiple platforms, enabling everyone to utilize it.
Facebook's history of attempts to acquire and/or overcome Snapchat have reportedly appeared in a file created by Snap called "Project Voldemort." Neither of the companies have made this document official, and all sources have remained anonymous in their efforts to make this document known. The files paint Facebook as the enemy of the modern world courtesy of a character from J.K. Rowling's global blockbuster book series: The Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
Twitter is cracking down on the financial scams that plague its platform. The company published a policy update today specifically about this issue, detailing the exact types of financial scams that will result in actions from the company, including impersonating people or banks, offering fraudulent discounts, operating phishing schemes, and more.
Twitter, especially with its original 140-character limit was meant as a way for people to share thoughts in short, brief bursts. It, however, exploded into a social networking phenomenon that constantly tried to break out of the platform's imposed limits. The social network recently doubled the character limit to 280 but that only increased a different phenomenon: tweetstorms and conversations. Now Twitter is experimenting with ways authors can change the narrative by hiding replies that they deem harmful to the discourse and their followers.
Jamie Lee Curtis was amongst the very vocal reaction this week to word that some "very famous people" want to "redo" the movie 'The Princess Bride.' "Oh really," said Curtis, "Well, I married the six fingered man, obviously why we have stayed together for 35 years and there is only ONE The Princess Bride and it's William Goldman and Rob Reiner's." Many, many other fans reacted quite similarly in the past several hours.
![Twitter CEO’s @Jack account hacked [Update]](https://www.slashgear.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/twitter-jack-dorsey-1280x720.jpg)
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is having a bad day, with hackers taking over control of his account and using it to tweet out racism and profanity. A group referring to itself as the "Chuckle Gang" apparently broke into the @jack account, and then proceeded to send out racism and retweet other users to the chief executive's 4.2 million followers.
Twitter began testing a new way to hide unwanted messages in their social network DM requests today. The new way in which messages are arranged starts as it's always started - in the direct messages menu. From there, standard messages appear in a list, just below "Message requests". From there, things go even deeper.
Twitter is planning a change that will make it easier for users to get content related to certain interests rather than from specific users. The company is currently testing the ability to follow curated topics, which presents users with related content surfaced using machine learning. The test is available to some users on Android at this time and is presently limited to sports content.
At some point, all of us need a break from social media. While some of us are good at closing an app like Twitter or Facebook and leaving it alone for a while, others are quickly pulled back in by push notifications. Twitter seems to be testing a solution to that problem, allowing users to silence push notifications for a set period of time.
The brands Google, Apple, Facebook, Snapchat, Twitter, and Amazon are all on the list. In the F-Secure Data Discovery Portal, you'll be shown the ways and means with which you'll learn all the data these major internet-centric companies have on you - and what you'll be able to do with this knowledge now that it's yours once more. Ever wonder how many recordings of your voice Amazon keeps? Now you can hear yourself in each file, one by one.