Senator Richard Blumenthal is again calling on Mark Zuckerberg to testify about Facebook’s research into Instagram and child safety. “It is urgent and necessary for you or Mr. Adam Mosseri to testify to set the record straight and provide members of Congress and parents with a plan on how you are going to protect our kids,” the Connecticut lawmaker wrote in a letter addressed to Zuckerberg.

Blumenthal is the chair of the Senate subcommittee on Consumer Protection, Product Safety, and Data Security that’s been holding hearings on social media and child safety in recent weeks. Earlier this month, Blumenthal said that a series of whistleblower disclosures about Facebook was the company’s “big tobacco moment.”

Since then, pressure has mounted on Facebook to address internal research that shows Instagram can have a negative impact on some teens’ mental health. The company has already “paused” work on a forthcoming Instagram Kids app, but lawmakers have said the company should end the project altogether.

In his letter, Blumenthal said that Facebook’s head of safety, Antigone Davis, who testified at a previous hearing, “appears to have provided false or inaccurate testimony to me regarding attempts to internally conceal its research.” He also said that Facebook “has continued to demean impactful and independent investigative reporting” and “downplayed its own research.”

Facebook didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.

Facebook is taking new steps to crack down on groups users who break its rules, even when they have done so in other parts of the app.

Under the new policy, Facebook will downrank content posted in groups by users who have broken its rules even if they have done so elsewhere on the company’s platform. The new rule will apply to any group member who has had a post removed for violating one of Facebook’s Community Standards in the previous 90 days. Those who have had multiple posts removed will have “more severe” demotions.

“This measure will help reduce the ability of members who break our rules from reaching others in their communities, and builds on the existing restrictions placed upon members who violate Community Standards,” Facebook wrote in a statement. The company notes that it already has policies that restrict activity from people who repeatedly break rules within.

But the latest changes go a step further because they will impose restrictions on users’ reach within groups even if they haven’t broken the rules of that specific community. A Facebook spokesperson says that these punishments will escalate “in both demotion strength and duration” as violations pile up.

Facebook

The change comes as Facebook faces increased scrutiny over its ability to police groups on its platform. While the social network has long touted groups as one of the more important parts of its platform, the feature has also been credited with fueling extremism and divisiveness on the platform. The company permanently ended recommendations for civic and health-related groups earlier this year.

Facebook has also looked to group admins and moderators to take more responsibility for toxic behavior that happens with groups. On that front, the company is also introducing a new tool called “Flagged by Facebook.” The feature will allow group admins to review rule-breaking content posted in their group before it’s removed by the company in order to help group members avoid receiving a “strike.” The admins can also appeal to Facebook or ask them to explain why the post breaks its rules.

Pinterest is stepping up its efforts to lure creators to its platform, and making its app a little more like TIkTok in the process. The company showed off a number of new creator-focused features Wednesday to mark its annual “Creator Festival” event.

The changes include a redesigned home feed that separates the app into two tabs: “Browse,” which features a familiar grid of Pins, and “Watch” a new feed of full-screen vertical video that looks a lot like TikTok.

But instead of viral dances and catchy music, Pinterest’s Watch section is an endless feed of “Idea Pins,” the Stories-like feature the company launched earlier this year. Idea Pins allow creators to publish the kind of first-person video with narration or text overlays that you might find on platforms like TikTok. The feature has been central to the company’s creator-focused initiatives, though the company has been slower to embrace influencers than some competing platforms.

Pinterest

But with the new “Watch” feed, Idea Pins are moving front and center within the app, and will be served up to users in a swipeable, TikTok-like format. And, after initially limiting the format to a small group of vetted creators, Pinterest is adding features it hopes will spur more users to create Idea Pins of their own. A new “Takes” feature will allow users to riff off of other creators' Idea Pins, similar to the way creators may remix or respond to each other’s TikToks.

While TikTok may not be the platform most associated with creators, the company has been steadily ramping up its efforts to engage with more influential users. In addition to creator profiles and Idea Pins, the company also launched a $500,000 creator fund to provide direct financial support to creators from underrepresented backgrounds. And the company introduced dedicated monetization features to help creators make money via brand partnerships. 

Facebook is finally testing Novi, the digital wallet it’s been teasing for more than two years. Facebook’s payments chief David Marcus announced that the company is launching “a small pilot” of Novi in the United States and Guatemala with the goal of enabling family members to send remittances across borders.

“We’re doing a pilot to test core feature functions, and our operational capabilities in customer care and compliance,” Marcus wrote. “We’re also hopeful this will demonstrate a new stablecoin use case (as a payments instrument) beyond how they are typically used today.”

The fact that Novi is finally launching, even in a limited way, would seem like significant step forward for Facebook’s long-troubled crypto plans. However, the company is launching the wallet without Diem, its planned cryptocurrency (previously called Libra) that’s faced a wave of pushback from lawmakers and regulators around the world.

Instead, the initial pilot will use the Pax Dollar (USDP), a stablecoin that Marcus said has “been operating successfully for over three years and has important regulatory and consumer protection attributes.” He added that Facebook has partnered with Coinbase during the pilot.

News of the pilot has already sparked renewed criticism from lawmakers. On Tuesday, hours after Marcus’ initial announcement, a group of five Democratic senators sent a letter to Facebook asking the company “to immediately discontinue your Novi pilot and to commit that you will not bring Diem to market.” The letter cited the recent disclosures from a Facebook whistleblower, and the company’s “relentless pursuit of profits at the expense of its users.”

“Given the scope of the scandals surrounding your company, we write to voice our strongest opposition to Facebook’s revived effort to launch a cryptocurrency and digital wallet, now branded ‘Diem’ and ‘Novi,’ respectively,” the senators wrote. “Facebook cannot be trusted to manage a payment system or digital currency when its existing ability to manage risks and keep consumers safe has proven wholly insufficient.”

A spokesperson for Novi said that “we look forward to responding to the Committee’s letter,” but didn't elaborate. In his initial announcement, Marcus said the company remains committed to launching Diem. “I do want to be clear that our support for Diem hasn’t changed and we intend to launch Novi with Diem once it receives regulatory approval and goes live,” he wrote.

Google is ramping up its security and privacy features with the Pixel 6. The company showed off new security hub and privacy dashboard features that will make it easier to control important settings.

The security hub provides an at-a-glance overview of security settings, such as whether or not your phone has the latest security updates installed or if you’ve set a fingerprint or PIN to unlock your device. Importantly, it can also keep tabs on the apps you’ve installed and can identify ones that are potentially “harmful.” At the top of the security hub is an indicator that will alert users if any settings need attention. A green checkmark indicates all is well, while a yellow exclamation mark will appear if something needs to be addressed.

Google also showed off new indicators to make it easier to tell when an app is using the phone’s camera or microphone feeds. Much like the notifications in iOS, an indicator will light up at the top right corner of the display when the phone’s mic or camera feeds are in use, and users will have the ability to kill access for specific apps.

Google

Likewise, the new privacy dashboard makes it easier to track which data apps have access to and how each app is using its permissions to access information like location data. As with the security hub, Google has previously made much of this information available within Android already, but it was often buried several layers into the settings menu, so having it all in a single dashboard should make it easier for most users to find.

Google also said it’s beefed up its anti-spam and phishing protection features, and Pixel 6 will be able to provide warnings when it detects potential shady phone calls, texts, emails and links.

It’s not yet clear if or when the company plans to bring these features to more devices than just its Pixel lineup. The company said during its event that the privacy dashboard and security hub would be “coming first” to Pixel, so the features could eventually make their way to more Android devices in the future.

The next version of macOS will be available to download beginning October 25th. Apple shared the release date alongside the new M1 Pro and M1 Max chips and a redesigned MacBook Pro.

The macOS Monterey update comes with notable improvements to FaceTime, including support for Spatial Audio, and the ability to use SharePlay to listen to music and watch videos with your friends. One of the biggest changes is the addition of Universal Control, which allows users to seamlessly move back and forth between an iPad and a Mac. The feature, which builds one earlier Continuity updates, allows users to drag and drop files between multiple devices and type on an iPad from a MacBook keyboard. 

But both SharePlay and Universal Control, which wasn’t available in initial betas of macOS Monterey, will be arriving after the initial update "later this fall," according to Apple.

The release also comes with a major update to Safari that’s at times been controversial due to significant changes to the tab bar and other key features. (The most recent beta brought back the tab bar by default after earlier versions of the update removed it.)

Developing...

Follow all of the news from Apple’s Mac event right here.

Jack Dorsey says that Square is “considering” building its own Bitcoin mining system using custom silicon and open source software. “Square is considering building a Bitcoin mining system based on custom silicon and open source for individuals and businesses worldwide,” Dorsey wrote in a Twitter thread Friday.

He added that such a project would follow a similar approach as the bitcoin hardware wallet Square began working on earlier this summer. But building a mining system would be considerably more complicated for the payments company than simply building a wallet. Creating custom chips is, as Dorsey points out, “very expensive,” and would be new territory for the payments company, which has been a major supporter of Bitcoin.

“Mining needs to be more efficient,” Dorsey wrote. “Driving towards clean and efficient energy use is great for Bitcoin’s economics, impact, and scalability. Energy is a system-level problem that requires innovation in silicon, software, and integration.”

As with his earlier tweets about plans for the hardware wallet, Dorsey didn’t share many details about how the mining system would actually work. But he said the goal would be to make mining more efficient and accessible to more people, which could address two of the most important issues related to cryptocurrency mining.

Bitcoin-related power usage has reached record highs in recent years, raising major concerns about the cryptocurrency’s impact on climate change. Mining has also driven up the prices and scarcity of GPUs, which has made it increasingly difficult for the average crypto enthusiast to mine on their own.

"Bitcoin mining should be as easy as plugging a rig into a power source,” Dorsey said. Whether or not Square will be able to accomplish that, is less clear. He said that the company “will start the deep technical investigation required to take on this project,” and is hoping to hear feedback on the idea in the meantime.

Facebook is ramping up its fight against leakers following the disclosures of whistleblower Frances Haugen. According to The New York Times, Facebook is limiting access to some internal groups that deal with “sensitive” issues like safety and elections. That the change, which was made to prevent further leaks, immediately leaked is both highly amusing and emblematic of some of the bigger issues the company is currently facing.

Ever since Haugen revealed herself as the whistleblower, one of the more noteworthy aspects of her story is that the documents she provided to Congress and the Securities and Exchange Commission were widely accessible to employees. The documents included slides detailing the company’s research into teen mental health, as well as numerous memos about how the company has handled rules for VIPs, misinformation and other thorny issues.

As The Times points out, the reason these documents were so readily available is because Facebook has long had an open culture that promotes sharing. And employees themselves often take to its internal communication platform, Workplace, to discuss controversial issues facing the company.

But now the social network is moving away from that openness. The company is making some internal groups private, and will remove employees “whose work isn’t related to safety and security,” according to the report. “Sensitive Integrity discussions will happen in closed, curated forums in the future,” the company told employees in a memo.

On one hand, the fact that news of the change immediately leaked would seem to back up that the company is in fact more leaky than it has been in years past. But it could also signal increasing unrest among employees, some of whom are reportedly concerned that walling off teams that work on important issues could ultimately do more harm than good.

It also underscores just how much Facebook is still reeling from Haugen’s disclosures. In addition to the Senate hearing last week, Haugen is expected to brief the select committee investigating the Jan. 6th insurrection, as well as European lawmakers investigating the company. The SEC also appears to be investigating her claims.

Facebook is slowly expanding its effort to weed out political content from News Feed. The company is now testing its “less political” feed in 75 new countries, Facebook said in an update.

The company has already introduced a version of the revamped News Feed in the United States, as well as Costa Rica, Sweden, Spain, Ireland, Canada, Brazil, and Indonesia. But the latest update marks a significant expansion of the effort, and brings the total number of countries involved to more than 80. Facebook didn’t identify the latest countries to join the test, but a spokesperson confirmed the company is showing the News Feed changes to “a small percentage of people” in each country. The spokesperson added that countries with upcoming elections and those “at higher risk of conflict” are not included in the tests.

Mark Zuckerberg first announced plans to make News Feed less political in January, just weeks after the insurrection. “People don’t want politics and fighting to take over their experience,” he said at the time.

Rolling out the changes to more countries could help Facebook learn more about how to lower the temperature on its platform, which could be particularly useful as the company is accused of making its service angrier to boost engagement. At the same time, the company has acknowledged the changes could hurt publishers. “As we get more insights from these tests, we’ll share updates on what we’re learning and will continue to make changes accordingly,” Facebook wrote in an updated blog post.

One week after a massive Facebook outage that took all of the social network’s apps offline for more than six hours, Instagram says it’s testing notifications that will alert users to “temporary issues” like outages or other technical issues.

The new alerts would appear in users’ Activity Feed, alongside other in-app notifications. The messages could be used to let users know about specific issues, like Story uploads not working, or a more widespread problem, like the two outages last week. Importantly, Instagram says it doesn’t plan to alert users to every issue, but ones that may be a source of widespread confusion.

“We won’t send a notification every single time there is an outage, but when we see that people are confused and looking for answers, we’ll determine if something like this could help make things clearer,” Instagram wrote in a blog post. The company added that it’s testing the feature in the US “for the next few months.”

Instagram

Separately, Instagram also showed off a new “account status” section of its app, which is meant to alert users to “what's going on with your account” more generally. Instagram says it’s starting with notifications about posts that are removed and when an account “is at risk of being disabled” due to rule violations.

According to Instagram, the feature is meant to make it easier for users to understand why a post may have been removed, and whether or not they may be in danger of losing an account altogether. While the app has notified users in the past when a post is labeled or removed, the company hasn’t always done a good job letting people know which policy they violated. The Oversight Board has repeatedly told Facebook it needs to do a better job at explaining rules to users, and account status could help them do just that.

Account status could also help the app address a more Instagram-specific issue: concerns over “shadowbanning.” Instagram says that “in the coming months” it plans to update account status to let people know “how their content is being distributed and recommended across different parts of Instagram.”