Social media updates and new features to know this week
Including Instagram, YouTube, X and more.
A recent BBC Eye investigation found that Instagram displayed paid ads in India that promoted child sexual abuse material and linked users to channels where it was then allegedly being sold.
The BBC reports a test account received about 30 of these ads, including some that used explicit keywords.
India’s Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology ordered Meta to disable the ads and related content and asked the company to explain within seven days how the ads passed review.
Meta said it removed ads, suspended accounts and reported content after being contacted.
A spokesperson told the outlet Meta is working to improve its defenses, develop new technology, block links to violating websites and share intelligence with other companies.
Here’s what else is new.
To help creators reach new audiences, Instagram added bilingual captions to its Edits app. It includes 15 different languages: English, Indonesian, Russian, Portuguese, Gujarati, Spanish, Hindi, Korean, Bengali, German, Italian, Thai, French, Japanese and Kannada.
The feature automatically translates captions into a second language, so creators can publish videos with two sets of captions instead of manually translating and editing them.
Instagram also launched new Stories tools for content captured with Ray-Ban Meta, Oakley Meta and Meta Glasses.
The features include:
- Spin View, which lets viewers explore scenes by rotating their phone.
- Multi-Cam, which syncs footage from a phone and Meta glasses into your IG Story.
YouTube
YouTube added a new tool that lets creators add up to 10 images, text overlays and music or soundtracks from YouTube’s audio options to a single carousel.
The posts can be created in the YouTube mobile app and appear in YouTube Studio under the Posts tab.
X
X is launching Live Studio, a livestreaming command center that will live inside Creator Studio, according to X Head of Product Nikita Bier.
The tool lets creators set up streams, add titles and thumbnails, schedule broadcasts, choose who can watch and track live performance.
Bier said X is also allocating $1 million for creators who livestream in an upcoming payout cycle, with more details to come.
LinkedIn added new creative tools in Campaign Manager for smaller businesses or startups.
The update includes:
- Brand Kit: Lets advertisers set brand colors, fonts, logos, tone and key messages
- Draft with AI: Generates ad copy from a URL with campaign goals and other inputs
- AI ad variants: Creates new headlines and intro text from existing ads
- Flexible Ad Creation: Mixes and matches images, videos and copy to test more creative versions
