Social Media Buzz Weekly: Roundup of Social Media Updates
- ClickInsights
- Jul 31
- 4 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 Still Has The Widest Social Media Reach
Meta remains the leader of the pack in terms of total social platform reach and usage, while Threads continues to gain on X and Pinterest continues to rise. The information comes from the latest snapshot of overall users, as measured by app.
Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp have all reached 3 billion monthly active users, based on the platform’s own reporting. While Meta no longer shares platform-specific numbers in its quarterly performance update anymore, it does share milestone achievements. Per the company, Instagram is the most recent of Meta’s owned apps to reach the 3 billion user milestone, which it hit in September 2025. Meta shared that WhatsApp reached 3 billion users in its Q1 2025 earnings call, while Facebook hit that mark in 2023.
2. Russia Charges Telegram Founder Durov with Aiding Terror, Issues Wanted Alert
Russia’s main domestic security agency has said that Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list.
The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, came as the Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control that has intensified since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Durov earlier this year announced that the Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation against him and accused them of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram as part of an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech”. If convicted, the entrepreneur could face up to life in prison in Russia.
3. Malaysia Probes Telecoms Giant Maxis Over Khairul Aming Privacy Leak
A social media post over an unpaid phone bill has triggered a data-protection investigation in Malaysia, after one of the country’s most recognisable influencers questioned how a stranger obtained details from his telecoms account. The episode involving Khairul Amin Kamarulzaman, better known as Khairul Aming, has raised uncomfortable questions for telcos about how tightly they manage customer account information and how quickly private details can be exposed when those controls fail.
Khairul posted screenshots on social media showing another user claiming that the influencer had an overdue Maxis bill of 498 ringgit (US$122), that his line could soon be barred and that digital purchases had pushed up his charges despite an advance payment of 2,000 ringgit. The same account had allegedly revealed details linked to Khairul’s MySara government aid account before the post disappeared from social media. Maxis has not publicly identified the person or said whether the individual was an employee, contractor or another authorised user of its systems.
4. Malaysia Clamps Down on Social Media-Fuelled Hiking Risks
Malaysia is tightening controls on high-risk hiking routes after officials linked a growing rescue burden to poor preparation, unauthorised trails and social media-driven summit attempts. The push is aimed partly at curbing gruelling “compressed hikes”, in which climbers try to complete long or technically demanding routes within a single day, often combining an ascent and descent that would usually be spread over a longer period.
The Fire and Rescue Department recorded 52 cases involving 114 people reported lost in forests and hiking areas during the first five months of this year, local media reported. The five-month tally already exceeded half of the 88 cases involving 193 people throughout 2025. Between 2021 and 2025, Malaysia had 1,059 hiking accidents, including 63 deaths and 87 injuries, according to figures presented to parliament last month. Deputy Natural Resources and Environmental Sustainability Minister Syed Ibrahim Syed Noh has said that the new restrictions were intended to prevent hikers from becoming exhausted, disoriented or stranded in remote terrain, where operations can require specialist teams, aircraft and days of searching.
5. Trump Media pitched US$100,000 Fee for Fastest Feed of US President’s Posts
Donald Trump’s social media company has discussed charging Wall Street traders and investment firms as much as US$100,000 a month for faster access to the US president’s posts on his Truth Social platform, according to people familiar with the matter.
Trump Media & Technology Group, which owns Truth Social, has in recent weeks also pitched a discounted plan of US$60,000 per month if the firms sign up for a three-year plan, the sources said, requesting anonymity as the discussions are confidential. Trump’s social media posts often move markets, and the profits of many top trading firms, hedge funds and financial services firms depend heavily on the speed at which they can execute trades. Access to the Truth API would be essential for high-frequency trading firms as a speed advantage of just a few milliseconds can result in hundreds of thousands of dollars of gains on big trades, the sources said.
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.
Comments