• ByteDance’s stake in TikTok is being cut to under 20%, with a U.S.–controlled board running the algorithm . The panic over a possible ban spawned its own meme cycle of Americans joking about migrating

• X’s in‑app browser will open links within the platform and aims to end the link‑penalty . Even executives can’t agree on how to reward link posts, with product lead Nikita Bier promising fairness and Musk rewriting the rules on the fly .

• Instagram’s Restyle uses conversational prompts to remove/add elements and apply film‑noir filters ; DMs let you draw over chats ; a Reels/DM‑first layout reflects data showing video watch time is up 20% and Reels account for half of time spent .

• Pinterest’s “GenAI interests” toggle lets you downrank AI‑generated pins and acknowledges that 57% of online content is generated

• Meta is replacing mid‑level engineers and risk‑org staff with AI , cutting 600 roles from its Superintelligence labs and partnering investors to fund new data centers

•YouTube’s Ask Studio bot uses your channel data to suggest titles, outlines and themes ; AI Q&A stickers auto‑generate questions for live chats ; and a new time‑limit for Shorts encourages controlled scrolling .

• Snapchat’s Imagine Lens, now free for all, allows users to conjure surreal scenes from text prompts , riding the Sora‑era AI video wave.

• Reddit is suing SerpApi, Oxylabs, AWMProxy and Perplexity for scraping its data via Google ; with AI licensing deals boosting revenue 24% , the platform wants to assert its ownership of community‑generated knowledge.

• Memes drive culture: TikTok’s Firefighter Method (laying out outfits for social emergencies) and Instagram’s Running From a Murderer trend went viral ; the ultra‑thin Reel ratio gives posts a cinematic strip feel ; the Monkey Philosophy meme reminds us to appreciate small things .

• Platforms act as chaperones: Meta adds scam warnings after Americans over 60 lost $4.8 billion in 2024 , and YouTube offers time limits for Shorts to curb endless scrolling