Social media - Azzet - Business news, investments companies & executives

Sign inJoin Now

Social media

Social media
Meta to surpass Google in digital ad spending
Meta is poised to surpass Google in total digital ad revenue in 2026. According to forecaster Emarketer, this would be the first time the social media giant has led the market. Meta is projected to reach US$243.46 in net worldwide ad revenue this year, while Google is only expected to reach $239.54. This follows Google's lead in 2025 of $214.06 billion to Meta’s $196.17 billion. It also comes as Meta’s share of worldwide digital ad spending reaches 26.8% in 2026, narrowly overtaking Google’s 26.4%. Meta’s growth rate is also expected to grow to 24.1% in 2026 from 22.1% in 2025, while Google’s is forecasted to remain steady at 11.9%. Meta’s Advantage+ automated ad suite has been gaining strong advertiser adoption due to its ability to streamline campaign set-up and enhance return on marketing spend. "Tools like its Advantage+, AI-generated ad creatives, and its broader automation stack are improving performance across both Facebook and Instagram, with Reels being a big beneficiary,” Emarketer senior forecasting analyst Zach Goldner said. “As a result, advertisers are getting better bang for their buck, and that's pulling more ad dollars onto the platform." Despite Google having other growth avenues, like You
Social media
UK runs social media ban trial for children
The United Kingdom is trialing social media bans, digital curfews and time limits on apps for teenagers across the country. The trials will see 300 teens have their social media apps disabled entirely, blocked overnight or capped to one hour’s use, while others will see no change at all, in order to compare experiences. This comes as the government runs a consultation asking whether the U.K. should follow Australia’s lead in making it illegal for under-16s to have access to many social media sites. Technology Secretary Liz Kendall said it was about "testing different options in the real world". "These pilots will give us the evidence we need to take the next steps, informed by the experiences of families themselves," she said. Children and parents will be interviewed before and after the pilot program, while the government’s consultation continues to run until 29 May. The trial comes after U.K. lawmakers voted against a proposal to include a social media ban for under-16s in an existing piece of legislation, the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill, earlier this month. The move has widespread political support with countries like France, Spain and Indonesia considering replicating Australia’s ban. It also
Social media
Meta, Google held liable for social media harm
Meta Platforms and Alphabet Inc’s Google have been ordered to pay US$3 million (A$4.3 million) in compensatory damages after being found liable for designing social media platforms that harm children and teenagers. The landmark decision that followed a six-week trial in the United States could reshape how technology companies defend user safety claims, according to media reports. A jury in Los Angeles took almost nine days to reach its verdict on Wednesday (Thursday AEDT) but did not award punitive damages, which will be decided during the next phase of the trial, Reuters reported in this story. The lawsuit centred on a 20-year-old woman identified in court as Kaley, who argued she became addicted to Google's business YouTube and Meta's Instagram site as a child due to features designed to maximise user engagement. The jury found both companies negligent in the design of their platforms and concluded they failed to adequately warn users about potential harms. “We respectfully disagree with the verdict and are evaluating our legal options,” a Meta spokesperson was quoted by Reuters as saying. The lawsuit over social media’s alleged harm to young people was the first of its kind to go to trial. This trial was th
Social media
Meta to add new AI content moderation systems
Meta will roll out new artificial intelligence tools for content moderation on its platforms, the company said today, as it cuts back on its use of third-party vendors. It will introduce these tools over the next few years, Meta said. Under the plan, the company has now begun rolling out an AI support assistant chatbot within Facebook and Instagram. “Over the next few years, we’ll be deploying these more advanced AI systems across our apps once we’ve seen them consistently perform better than our current methods of content enforcement, transforming our approach,” Meta wrote in a statement. “As we do this, we’ll reduce our reliance on third-party vendors for content enforcement and focus on strengthening our internal systems and workforce.” Meta will continue to employ human content moderators, the company said, but will allocate tasks like “repetitive reviews of graphic content or areas where adversarial actors are constantly changing their tactics” to its AI systems. According to Meta, its content moderation standards will not change as these AI tools are deployed. Its new AI support assistant, intended to offer help with Facebook and Instagram issues, has begun rolling out in all languages. The chatbot can aid
Social media
Meta to pay creators to post on Facebook
Meta has launched a new Creator Fast Track program to encourage creators from other social media, like Instagram, TikTok and YouTube, to grow their platforms on Facebook. The program was created to make it easier for established creators who are new to or rediscovering Facebook. Creators who are part of the program will receive increased reach on eligible reels to boost their follower growth and three months of guaranteed pay for sharing content on Facebook. Creators in the program can earn $1,000 per month if they have at least 100,000 followers on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, or $3,000 per month if they have more than one million followers on at least one of those platforms. They will also have immediate access to Facebook Content Monetisation so they can earn more from eligible content even after the Creator Fast Track program ends. “We have heard from established creators on other platforms … that it can be hard or intimidating to get started,” Yair Livne, vice president of product for Facebook Creators, told CNBC. “So this program is really meant to address that need.” This comes as Facebook continues to pay creators more and more for their content. In 2025, Facebook paid creators nearly US$3 billion

Social media
Oracle's stake in TikTok revealed to be around US$2bn
Oracle has finally disclosed its stake in TikTok at roughly US$2 billion (A$2.797 billion). In its financial filing, Oracle said it recorded “non-marketable debt investments and equity securities and related instruments” of US$2.2 billion. The “substantial majority” of its non-marketable investments were in TikTok USDS Joint Venture LLC, the filing said. This comes almost two months after TikTok’s U.S. operations were officially handed over to a group of investors. TikTok’s future in the U.S. became murky after former President Joe Biden signed a national security law in 2024 requiring China’s ByteDance to sell TikTok’s U.S. operations, or face a nationwide ban. President Donald Trump signed an executive order approving ByteDance’s divestment in September. According to Vice President JD Vance, the business was valued at $14 million. Adam Presser was named CEO of the TikTok USDS Joint Venture in January. Oracle, Silver Lake, Abu Dhabi’s MGX and a group of other investors made up the majority control in the new entity. Oracle owns 15% and has a seat on the board, which the company reiterated on its earnings call late Tuesday. Silver Lake and MGX each control 15% as well. ByteDance owns just under 20% of th
Social media
TikTok parent ByteDance reportedly valued at US$550bn
TikTok parent company ByteDance is reportedly valued at US$550 billion (A$775.6 billion) under private equity firm General Atlantic’s plan to sell its stake in the company. General Atlantic aims to close its sale in March, according to Reuters. ByteDance was reportedly valued at more than $330 billion in an employee share buyback last August, and at $480 billion in a secondary market deal in November. The sale comes after TikTok’s United States business was reestablished as a joint venture with companies, including Oracle, two months ago. The U.S. passed a law in 2024 that would ban TikTok in the country if China-based ByteDance did not divest from its U.S. operations, citing national security concerns. “The majority American owned Joint Venture will operate under defined safeguards that protect national security through comprehensive data protections, algorithm security, content moderation, and software assurances for U.S. users,” wrote the joint venture TikTok USDS. General Atlantic first invested in ByteDance in 2017 when the company’s value was around $20 billion, and its CEO, Bill Ford, sits on ByteDance’s board. It has not disclosed the exact size of its stake or the financial terms of a sale. China-based vent
Social media
TikTok's new US unit could bring big changes to the app
TikTok officially launched its new United States subsidiary in January, the final part of its process to avoid a ban in the country. The deal, which the U.S. government valued at around US$14 billion, separates the platform’s U.S. operations into a new joint venture with reduced involvement from China-based parent company ByteDance. For over 200 million U.S. TikTok users, this could result in differences in the videos they are recommended or are able to post, as well as the personal data the app collects. Downloads of alternative social media apps have spiked amid concerns about censorship.Why is this happening?TikTok’s U.S. joint venture subsidiary was finalised on 22 January. Under a law passed in 2024, TikTok was required to divest its U.S. operations or be banned, with lawmakers citing national security issues over its China-based owner, ByteDance. A ‘divest-or-ban’ law was first proposed in 2020, and its enforcement was delayed several times after U.S. President Donald Trump took office as prospective buyers courted the app. Software company Oracle, private equity company Silver Lake, and Emirati state-owned fund MGX will each have a 15% stake in the joint venture, known as TikTok USDS. ByteDance, TikTok’s parent com
Social media
Reddit reports strong earnings for Q4 2025
Reddit beat expectations and gave guidance for the start of 2026 in its latest earnings release. The social media site’s fourth-quarter revenue soared 70% to US$726 million, far exceeding expectations of $665 million. Net income had an even bigger jump of 255% from $252 million to $181 million last year. Revenue accounted to 35% of this, with Reddit’s sales in the U.S. coming in at $583 million, topping analysts' estimates of $529 million. Earnings per share blew past expectations of 94 cents, coming in at $1.24 per share. Following positive earnings for Q4 2025, the company estimates revenue within the range of $595 million and $605 million for the first quarter of 2026. This is higher than Wall Street analysts' expectations of $577 million. The number of daily users also grew 19% year-over-year to 121.4 million, ahead of analysts' predictions of 120 million. The company said that logged-in daily active users from the U.S., referring to users who were signed into accounts, rose 5% year-over-year to 23 million, paling in comparison to the third quarter growth of 7%. This marks the sixth straight quarter where Reddit’s U.S. logged-in user growth has slowed. Investors monitor this metric as logged-in users