The Russian government has cracked down on foreign social media platforms such as Instagram, Facebook and Twitter, banning them for extremist activists. For protestors, activists and local civilians, these actions have resulted in a significant barrier to communication with the outside world. Furthermore, they have also raised the question of just how easy of a target these apps are for state authorities. With citizens unable to access these platforms, they have little choice but to flee to the next-best still active platforms. However, it isn't just Russian activists who have taken to alternatives. Consider, for example, Telegram, a cloud-based instant …

The founder of the $723.5 million Azuki nonfungible token (NFT) project “Zagabond” caused a sh*tstorm yesterday after revealing that they had previously worked on three abandoned NFT projects. After facing strong backlash from the NFT community, they have since apologized for their “shortcomings.” The three projects in question are Tendies and CryptoPunks copycats CryptoPhunks and CryptoZunks. “Zagabond” suggested all three had failed due to a lack of community support and other factors such as team members leaving or high gas fees on Ethereum. After releasing the blog via Twitter, most replies were in support of “Zagabond’s” honesty on the trial …

Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg said that the company is starting to test digital collectibles on photo and video sharing platform Instagram this week, signaling a move toward adding nonfungible tokens, or NFTs. In an interview with Impact Theory’s Tom Bilyeu published to Facebook on Monday, Zuckerberg said the move was the first step toward allowing creators and collectors to display NFTs on other apps under Meta’s control, including WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Facebook. According to the CEO, Meta is planning to “bring similar functionality to Facebook soon” and is working on “augmented reality NFTs” for Instagram as well. The move …

Kanye West won’t be purchasing a Bored Ape Yacht Club nonfungible token (NFT) any time soon. In a strongly worded Instagram post made on Monday, Ye stated “Do not ask me to do a f*cking NFT.” The message in the photo, shared with his 10.5 million followers, explains he is focused on “building real products in the real world.” He didn’t mince his words in a follow-up comment to the Instagram post: “STOP ASKING ME TO DO NFTs I’M NOT FINNA CO-SIGN … FOR NOW I’M NOT ON THAT WAVE I MAKE MUSIC AND PRODUCTS IN THE REAL WORLD”. Whereas …

Although the traditional payment system is effective in many ways, no solution ever arose to address cross-border transactions, transparency and fees lost to intermediaries, giving the world a digital currency to rally behind. Unfortunately, for the average investor to take advantage of these benefits, the process was often cumbersome, met with the complexity of navigating multiple platforms. In some cases, this may include a separate wallet and numerous trading platforms, depending on the currencies or projects a user is interested in holding, each of which may be met with their own sign-up and account creation processes. These concerns are in …

Social media has overtaken the world as a place to share details about our personal lives, connect with distant friends and build entire communities about our interests and passions. While Facebook led the charge, YouTube followed shortly after as a medium to distribute video blogs, how-tos and other entertaining media. Unfortunately, what many fail to realize is the vast potential of money-making opportunities that exist on social media. When used correctly, social media can be lucrative, even providing some with a stable income. The difference is recognizing social media as more than a platform for connecting with people. Rather, it …

Major social media and communication platforms Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp went offline Monday as the price of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies surged. As data from Cointelegraph Markets Pro shows, Bitcoin (BTC) price moved above $49,000 after falling to a daily low of $47,166, an increase of roughly 4.5% in less than two hours. Similarly, the price of Ether (ETH) rose 3.5% over the same period to reach $3,411 at the time of publication. The sudden price volatility comes as major social media platform Facebook, photo and video sharing app Instagram, and messenger app WhatsApp — both owned by Facebook — …

Digital artist Sean Williams claims that Mark Zuckerberg’s Instagram is working to create its own NFT marketplace. STORY TIME: INSTAGRAM IS BUILDING AN NFT PLATFORM RIGHT NOW AND THEY’RE REACHING OUT TO UPCOMING ARTISTS IN THE NFT SPACE TO HELP THEM BUILD IT. THE CATCH? They’re reaching out to artists IN OUR COMMUNITY to give them insight on what the NFT community needs, and disguising — Sean Williams (@iArtSometimes) May 18, 2021 Williams tweeted to his 12,000 followers on May 18 that Instagram had invited him and other artists to speak on an NFT focused panel, and to provide feedback …

The United States Federal Trade Commission has filed a lawsuit against Facebook Inc., where it alleges that the corporation has been engaging in anti-competitive practices ever since acquiring a dominant global position at the turn of the 2010s. According to public case files released on Wednesday, the regulator believes that Facebook has systematically purchased or reproduced the features of any social media competitor that could have posed a threat to the company’s dominance. The lawsuit cites the 2012 purchase of Instagram and 2014 acquisition of WhatsApp as the most egregious examples of anti-competitive practices. According to internal and public communications …

Despite regulators across the board giving a cold shoulder to Facebook’s ambitious plan to install a worldwide crypto-based payment system called Libra, the company’s enthusiasm for moving into the digital payments space is only mounting. Earlier this week, reports emerged that the social media hegemon has realigned its forces on this front, arranging all its payments-related subsidiaries into a single group called Facebook Financial. David Marcus, co-creator of Libra and head of the Novi (formerly Calibra) project, will take command of the new division while continuing to directly oversee the crypto effort. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg also tapped former Upwork …

Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, lashes out at Facebook and Instagram for making money off of scammy ads that use Durov’s name and image. Through his Russian Telegram channel on June 17, Durov accuses the tech giant of turning the deaf ear to user complaints: “For over a year, Facebook and Instagram have been making money off of advertisements promoting scams that are being launched from my name. <...> These machinations are approved by Facebook’s moderators, which allows them the status of advertisement, thus misleading people.” Facebook has enough resources for political censorship One of the scams cited by Durov was …

Facebook and Instagram filed suit against a user who, they allege, operated a cloaking service that allowed ads for a range of scams to slip through the advertisement reviews for both platforms. Facebook’s accusations and request for relief In a civil complaint filed with a federal court in San Francisco on April 9, the social media giants accuse Bassant Gaijar of operating LeadCloak, a software provider specializing in cloaking ads. Per the complaint, Facebook alleges that: “[Gaijar’s] cloaking services were used to promote, among other things, deceptive diet pills and pharmaceuticals, cryptocurrency investment scams, and even misinformation about the economic …