- Nepal blocks 26 social media platforms in historic crackdown: The Nepali government on Thursday instituted a widespread block on major social media platforms, including Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, …
- Social media users raise R42k for children of fallen SAPS officers: Social media users and influencers raised a total of R42 134 for the children of South African Police Service (SAPS) officers who died in the line …
- Social Media Addiction: How to escape its clutches: CapeTalk’s Sara-Jayne Makwala King is joined on Weekend Breakfast by Anna Collard, Content Strategy & Evangelist at KnowBe4 AFRICA.
- Abuse of Social Media Platforms by Terrorists: Social media has opened up many new platforms in communication, entertainment, and knowledge. Unfortunately, it has also given radicals the means …
- Social media firestorm erupts after massive Georgia immigration raid: ‘Taking bold action’: Social media erupted across the political spectrum following Thursday’s federal immigration raid at a Hyundai mega plant in Georgia that resulted …
- Nepal: Ban On Major Social Media Apps That Missed Registration Deadline: The K.P. Sharma Oli government on Thursday (September 4, 2025) decided to ban as many as 26 social media platforms, including Facebook, …
- Scammers impersonating Yle journalists on social media: Over the summer, a screenshot masquerading as an Iltalehti news article spread across social media, reaching tens of thousands of Finns on Facebook …
- Comment: It is about time France put social media in its place: Discover Emmanuel Macron’s initiative to ban social media for children under 15 in France, addressing misinformation and promoting healthier …
- Free speech really is under threat in Britain, but social media has driven us collectively mad: Welcome to the age of social media. I say “communication” but what goes on in this bizarre alternative form of human utterance is often the opposite: …
- Yondr’s CEO Uses Only a Flip Phone — and Thinks Social Media Is ‘Lame’: Yondr makes the zippered pouches for phone-free zones, like schools and concerts. We asked the CEO about social media — and why he uses a flip.
- The quality of your product or service is critical but perception matters more than you might think.
- Tesla Proposes Musk Pay Package Worth as Much as $1 Trillion Over Decade: Tesla’s board is asking investors to approve a pay package that could deliver Elon Musk as much as $1 trillion in stock over the next decade. The deal would allow Musk to receive installments of shares if Tesla hits a series of market capitalization and business milestones. The maximum payout would give him an additional 12% stake in Tesla, but the company would have to reach a market value nearly eight times its current valuation. The unprecedented pay package is aimed at keeping Musk focused on the company.
- Apple plans to announce its next-generation iPhone lineup, new smartwatches, and other peripherals at a product launch event tomorrow. There will be four new iPhone models, including what will likely be called the iPhone 17 Air, a model approximately one-third thinner than the iPhone 16 Pro. It will have the same A19 processor as the iPhone 17, but can only support eSIMs due to its thin frame.
- Hope for diabetes: CRISPR-edited cells pump out insulin in a person – and evade immune detection: Sana Biotechnology, a firm in Seattle, Washington, has successfully implanted CRISPR-edited pancreas cells into a person with type 1 diabetes without the need for immune-dampening drugs. The cells, collected from a deceased donor, were able to produce insulin for months. Currently, the only way for someone with type 1 diabetes to avoid dependence on injected insulin is through the transplantation of cadaveric islet cells, but this requires lifelong immune-suppressing drug therapy. Sana’s solution bypasses the need for those drugs entirely.
- Elon Musk: Neuralink could restore partial vision to the blind next year: Neuralink could attempt to restore limited sight to visually impaired patients as early as 2026. Blindsight is a brain-computer interface designed to restore vision. It targets the brain’s visual cortex to generate visual perception, which means that vision could be restored even for people who were born blind. Blindsight has received a ‘breakthrough device’ designation from the US FDA.
- Google’s Nano Banana model introduces state-of-the-art capabilities for creating and manipulating images. This guide provides a walkthrough on how to integrate the model into applications using the Gemini Developer API. It covers how to set up environments, generate and edit images, and apply advanced techniques. It also discusses how to use Nano Banana in AI Studio, best practices, effective prompting, and more.
- Engineering excellence starts on edge: The best engineering teams develop their own tools while running production code on edge, where progress is made. When programmers are able to directly influence the tools they’re working with, they’re likely to do so, which makes them learn more. However, this requires being able to immediately use the improvements or bug fixes they helped devise – it doesn’t work if they have to sit and wait for the next release. Bug-free frameworks and libraries take work, but the reward is increased engineering excellence.
- OpenAI Backs AI-Made Animated Feature Film: Chad Nelson, a creative specialist at OpenAI, is making a feature-length movie using AI. Expected to be released in theaters globally next year, Critterz is a story about forest creatures who go on an adventure after their village is disrupted by a stranger. Nelson has teamed up with production companies in London and Los Angeles to debut the film at the Cannes Film Festival in May. The team is attempting to make the movie in about nine months instead of the three years it would typically take. It has a budget of less than $30 million, far less than what animated films typically cost.
- No, AI Is Not a Bubble: Bubbles are false beliefs about reality that everyone eventually figures out were false. The dot-com bubble that popped was the idea that businesses would become instantly rich just by being on the internet. People no longer believe that just adding AI to products will make them instant millionaires. The idea that modern AI will significantly transform business and the global economy, leading to massive unemployment for knowledge workers, is not a bubble.
- Business owners are now able to purchase and install Superchargers on their properties, with Tesla fully managing operations.
- Google AI Mode may become the default Google Search experience “soon.”: AI Mode becoming the default can mean big changes to the future of SEO.
- Why we trust strangers’ open source more than our colleagues’: Employees often maintain their projects because they love them, so it’s worth giving their projects the same fair evaluation given to any other open source.
- You can now attach up to 10,000 characters of text to a Threads post.
- Plus, you can pin your own comments on Instagram posts.
- HubSpot debuts a new AI playbook at Inbound as content marketing falters.
- Snap’s new app ad formats aim to lower CPAs, drive reach.
- Facebook is bringing Marketplace across the country in a custom Airstream.
- “Posted is better than perfect.”
- EU fines Google $3.5 billion over anti-competitive ad-tech business: Google may be forced to divest its ad-tech business, but Google will appeal.
- Google Ads API to switch to a monthly release cycle: Google said its users want more frequent updates and this will result in that.
- Retail media’s next chapter: Balancing global scale with hyperlocal precision: As retail media networks mature, success hinges on mastering both global scale and neighborhood-level precision.
- 57% of consumers now search with AI — is your brand ready?: AI and search are changing product discovery. Get the data, strategies, and real-world examples you need to compete.
- Amazon integrates Lens visual search with its AI shopping assistant: Lens Live lets customers browse a swipeable product carousel and add items to their cart within the camera view.
- AI search and summaries distrusted by about half of consumers: Gartner: It’s an opportunity for brands to “strengthen their reputation as trusted resources,” according to a company analyst.
- An inside look at Starbucks’ coffeehouse redesign: With 1,000 renovations and new builds set to incorporate warmer colors, more seating and experiential changes, Starbucks may be on its way to physically restoring its coffeehouse-vibe.
- Instagram’s latest update is quietly changing how Trial Reels are ranked. The new algorithm now penalizes duplicate or re-uploaded Trial Reels, meaning those identical tests you’ve been running might be getting buried before they even have a chance to perform.
- TikTok is testing a powerful new retargeting feature that brings the platform’s advertising capabilities much closer to the sophisticated targeting options available on Facebook and Instagram. This development represents a major step forward in TikTok’s evolution as an advertising platform and creates new opportunities for marketers to maximize their return on ad spend.
- TikTok has significantly upgraded its direct messaging capabilities, introducing features that bring the platform’s private communication options closer to the sophistication found on more established social platforms. These updates address long-standing limitations that have hindered marketers’ ability to provide effective customer service and build relationships through TikTok’s messaging system.
- While most AI image generators focus on pixels, Nano Banana taps into something smarter: reasoning. Built into Google Gemini’s 2.5 Flash model, this next-gen tool understands context, brand cues, and even sketchy napkin ideas.
- Google Workspace Rolls Out Major AI Enhancements Across Its Apps: Google’s August Workspace Drop delivers powerful AI-driven tools to streamline workflows and boost productivity. In Sheets, the new =AI function enables large-scale text generation, categorization, and analysis in multiple languages. NotebookLM now offers video-based summaries and flexible audio overview creation. In Chat, Meet, Forms, Drive, and mobile Docs, Gemini-powered summaries and insights help users stay informed effortlessly. Visual creators benefit from image-editing tools and audio balancing in Vids and Slides, while Drive’s improved PDF editing and support for much larger documents enhance document handling. Altogether, this update brings smarter, more dynamic AI functionality across Google Workspace.
- Instagram Lets Users Pin Their Own Comments on Posts and Reels: Instagram now enables users to pin their own comments to the top of the comment section on posts and Reels. By pinning a comment, creators can supplement their captions with updates, clarifications, and calls to action, and ensure they remain visible. The feature began rolling out this week and will be available broadly in the near future.
- Snapchat Debuts Imagine Lens for AI-Generated Image Prompts: Snapchat has introduced its Imagine Lens feature, enabling users to generate AI-powered images by typing custom text prompts. Available to Snapchat+ Platinum and Lens+ subscribers, the Imagine Lens appears prominently in the app’s Lens Carousel. Users can select from pre-populated prompts or input personalized ones using the caption bar and then share the resulting images with friends, post them to Stories, or export them outside the app. This expansion boosts Snapchat’s growing emphasis on generative AI and creative tools.
- TikTok Reaches 200 Million EU Users: A new growth milestone for the short-form video app.
- Threads Rolls Out Auto-Added Counts on Posts: An easier way to keep track of connected posts in the app.
- How Shake Shack removes friction between web traffic and app downloads: As it begins to invest in paid media at scale, the fast casual chain teamed with Google to drive more app conversions and return on ad spend.
- Pampers prioritizes emotional storytelling for new campaign, brand ethos: Launched with a tear-jerking ad around the NFL’s opening weekend, “Behind Every Baby” features several social-first elements like influencer partnerships.
- Inside Peach & Lily’s unconventional influencer marketing strategy: The skin care brand sent unbranded versions of its product to creators for a campaign that generated engagement five-times higher than previous efforts.
- Campaign Trail: How a SaaS firm used AI to turn clients into ad stars: Customer experience firm 8×8 transformed real-life clients into action heroes in ads created entirely with generative artificial intelligence tools.
TLDR: Social Media Headlines – 8 September 2025
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Slap chips – French fries [slup-chips] An Afrikaans word meaning limp and describing soft, fat French fries. These are usually mixed with tomato sauce and vinegar.
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Jol – party / to have fun [jo-rl] Similar to ‘kiff’ or ‘kief’, jol can be used in any context to express having a good time.Example: “I’m going to a jol tonight!” / “I’m having a jol!” / “It was such a jol!”