Social Media Buzz Weekly: Roundup of Social Media Updates
- ClickInsights
- 5 hours ago
- 7 min read
Welcome to Social Media Buzz Weekly, your weekly bulletin of the latest social media updates. With the social media landscape evolving with each passing day, it can be challenging to keep a tab on the rapid developments. Well, not anymore, as we have taken it upon ourselves to keep you abreast of every happening in the social media space.
So, without any further ado, let’s look at some of the most significant developments from the last week in the world of social media.
1. Meta Files Lawsuits Against Brazil, China, Vietnam Advertisers Over Celeb-Bait Scams
Meta has filed lawsuits against several individuals and companies in Brazil and China who used celebrity deepfakes to advertise products on its platforms, the company said in a statement.
Celeb-bait schemes use images of public figures to trick people into engaging with ads that lead to scam websites. Meta has been working to address this, with new elements such as facial ID scanning for high-profile users, in order to detect unauthorised use of their image. Meta is also filing a lawsuit against a Vietnam-based group for cloaking scams, which aim to restrict Meta’s ad review systems.
2. TikTok Joins European Advertising Standards Alliance
TikTok has signed up to the European Advertising Standards Alliance (EASA) as a digital member, according to a Sunday announcement.
EASA provides guidance on how companies can go about advertising self-regulation to ensure that ads are legal, decent and truthful. TikTok will look to adopt EASA standards in its business and bring itself more into line with expectations around EU ad standards and best practices. The partnership will see TikTok working with EASA to ensure ad compliance, while also seeking to enhance public confidence in advertising approaches.
3. TikTok Shop Rolls Out New Tools Including Expanded Chatbot Access
TikTok has announced a range of additions for TikTok Shop sellers, including expanded access to its Seller Assistant chatbot, an easier way to send out samples and auto-clipping from live-streams.
First off, TikTok’s Seller Assistant tool, which provides an always-on AI assistant to help with your Shop queries, is now widely available within the Seller Center. The Seller Assistant, which you can access by tapping the sparkle icon in the lower right-hand side of the screen, enables users to ask questions related to their product listings, providing quick answers in-stream. TikTok is also adding highlights on creator profiles that its system recommends for brand collaborations, based on your comparative audience and performance.
4. TikTok Expands Its MLB Partnership Agreement
TikTok continues to enhance its focus on sports content, this time via a new, multi-year agreement with MLB, which will see the league and teams posting exclusive content to the app.
The deal was announced by TikTok on Feb. 24, and comes as the app looks to connect with the next generation of sports consumers. TikTok said that select creators will also be given access to MLB’s current and archival content, which will better enable them to tell baseball stories. TikTok has made sports content a bigger focus this year, signing deals with the International Ski Federation ahead of the 2026 Winter Olympics, and FIFA ahead of the 2026 World Cup.
5. TikTok Releases Its 2026 Discover List
TikTok has shared its annual Discover List, which highlights top creators in various fields, each of whom is helping to advance topical discussion and education in the app.
The 2026 Discover List features 50 creators across five categories i.e., Educators, Foodies, Icons, Innovators and Originators. TikTok said that creators were chosen for the Discover List based on overall video creation volume, account growth, engagement metrics and interactions with followers, which, along with social impact within their respective category, guided the TikTok team in its selections for the list.
6. Instagram Emphasizes Reels in New Design Update
Instagram is reportedly experimenting with a new design that would put more emphasis on Reels, while also providing customizable feed options for Reels display.
This update would enable more specific user controls for in-app experiences, and further emphasize Instagram’s shift in focus towards short-video content. It also underlines why brands need to consider this shift within their IG content approach. The updated design would open to the main Reels feed and would give users access to a new Your Feeds center.
7. Instagram’s Connected TV App Comes to US Google TV Devices
Instagram is expanding access to its new connected TV app to Google TV devices in the U.S., which will give more people the capacity to watch Instagram Reels on their television sets.
Instagram’s revamped TV app, which it launched on Amazon Fire devices in December 2025, provides a similar CTV viewing experience to YouTube, with a layout that’s designed to be easy to navigate via limited TV remote functions. Those who use Google’s connected TV options will be able to access Instagram TV as well, providing expanded big screen viewing for IG content. The main focus of Instagram’s renewed TV push is Reels, as well as expanding short-form video consumption to new formats.
8. Instagram Will Alert Parents When Teens Search for Self-Harm Content
Instagram has announced a new safety measure that will alert parents if their teenage child repeatedly searches for terms related to suicide or self-harm in the app.
The alerts, which will be rolled out to parents in the U.S., Canada, the U.K. and Australia, will send a push notification to an approved parents’ phone. The notification will provide an overview of what happened, along with links to resources that can help parents address their concerns with their children. Parents will need to be enrolled in Instagram’s Parental Supervision program to qualify for the alerts.
9. Snapchat Introduces Subscription Model for Its Most Popular Creators
Snapchat is adding a new way for creators to make money in the app, with creator subscriptions, which will enable Snap stars to generate direct revenue from their fans in-stream.
Snapchat’s subscriptions for creators will give popular Snapchat users the opportunity to monetize their content through exclusive offerings, while also experimenting with other forms of subscription offerings to maximize interest. Snap says that the program will give creators a range of options to drive subscription take-up. In turn, creators taking part in the program will also be able to set their own monthly pricing “within Snap-recommended tiers,” which will give them more flexibility to maximize their intake.
10. Snapchat+ Reaches 25M Subscribers
Snapchat has announced a new milestone for its Snapchat+ subscription offering, with more than 25 million people now signed up to the program, and Snap now generating over $1 billion per year from its non-advertising business.
This also includes its Lens+ subscription, giving users exclusive access to new AR features, as well as its Memories storage plans. But primarily, this intake is driven by Snapchat+, underlining the value of this add-on offering for Snapchat’s dedicated audience. Snapchat+ has clearly been the most successful of the new wave of social subscription offerings, though Meta Verified has also seen strong take-up.
11. Snapchat Announces New Awards Show Designed to Spotlight Creators
Snapchat has announced a new awards show for Snap creators called “The Snappys,” which will recognize and highlight in-app talent.
Snapchat said The Snappys will celebrate the creators shaping culture on Snapchat, adding that the show will honor creative excellence, cultural impact and community-building across the platform. Snappy awards will be handed out to Snapchat creators who excel in categories including entertainment, comedy, music, sports and beauty. The event will also include a lifetime achievement award for DJ Khaled, who has long been associated with Snapchat, using it to showcase his lifestyle.
12. Ireland and Spain Launch Investigations Into X’s Grok
The Irish Data Protection Commission announced an open inquiry, according to a government release, while Spain’s Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez posted on X that the country’s Council of Ministers will begin its own examinations of X and xAI.
Both nations have said that their respective investigations were over the generation and amplification of sexualized content. Grok came under fire in January after a new trend emerged on X where users would ask Grok to “put her in a bikini,” or sometimes make more salacious requests, beneath an image posted in-stream. Those requests prompted the AI bot to generate sexualized images of the subject. This extended to all kinds of images of people in the app, including children.
13. Research Shows X Amplifies Conservative Political Views
A study published by science journal Nature has examined the impact of Elon Musk’s changes to X/Twitter, and outlines how X’s algorithm shapes political attitudes, and leans towards conservative perspectives.
The study was conducted in 2023, around six months after Elon Musk took over at the app. The study, based on an analysis of nearly 5,000 participants, showed that those who were on the algorithmic feed leaned much further towards conservative viewpoints. Last year, Sky News conducted a month-long experiment on X to measure political bias and found that X exhibits a significant algorithmic bias toward promoting far-right and extreme content.
14. X Appeals $140M Penalty from the EU Commission
X has launched a legal challenge against the $141 million (approximately 120 million euros) fine issued to the company by the EU Commission last December, which relates to breaches of X’s DSA obligations relating to transparency.
The fine specifically relates to X’s changes to verification, which the EU Commission claims has led to confusion as to what the blue checkmarks in the app now represent. In addition, the EU Commission has also penalized X for restricting researcher access, which is also in violation of X’s DSA obligations. X’s platform’s Global Affairs team said on Friday that the penalty is based on a flawed approach.
15. Dept. of Defense Signs Deal With xAI
Elon Musk’s controversial artificial intelligence project xAI has reportedly signed a new deal with the U.S. Department of Defense.
Through the deal xAI will allow the DOD to incorporate Grok models into classified U.S. military systems. According to reports, xAI stepped in to offer an alternative to Anthropic’s AI models amid concerns around Anthropic’s opposition to the use of its tools for certain military applications. The deal would be an expansion of the initial partnership that xAI established with the DOD in December, which allowed defense staff to access xAI’s frontier systems.
16. X Adds Two Aspect Ratio Options for In-Stream Ads
X has announced new visual parameter options for X ads, adding two new aspect ratio formats.
In addition to its existing aspect ratio options, X will now offer 4:5 format and 2:3 display within posts, which will give marketers additional options for their in-stream promotions. The new ratios will give advertisers more ways to display their promotions within the X feed. That could help brands create more standout promotions aligned with their established branding approach.
Wrapping Up
And that was a wrap of this week’s Social Media Buzz. We’ll be back next week with more news and updates for you from the social media world. Till then, stay tuned!
If you want to read more on the latest developments taking place in the social media space, take a look at ClickInsights’ Social Media Buzz, wherein we bring to you monthly reports on everything going on in social media, ranging from platform updates to policy changes that influence the way we market.
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