Social media news

• My trip to Makerfield convinced me I’ve got something very wrong

  17-06-2026 19:52 via inews.co.uk
  
  There is nothing like being right. Being so certain. Feeling the kind of self assurance that makes you walk taller and command a room with your thinking. That was where I was on Monday morning.Keir Starmer had delivered one of his most assured, most prime ministerial statements of his premiership – the long awaited, and indeed longed-for, ban on social media for the under-16s.It was time to give children back their childhoods, argued the PM. And to give parents a break from hammering them.
  
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• The true face of Reform is snarling and dangerous

  12-08-2026 18:42 via inews.co.uk
  
  Somewhere inside Zia Yusuf, there’s a competent politician trying to get out. The Reform UK home affairs spokesman is well-dressed, relatively charismatic and ambitious. Perhaps in normal times, he would have made a passable junior minister in the Conservative Party.But these are not normal times. The Conservative Party is in a state of decay and right-wing politicians have every incentive to edge towards the extreme. Yusuf is either too weak to resist that pull or too venal to want to.He
  
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• I failed 11 times to break up with my partner – now I give advice to 400,000 women

  12-08-2026 11:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  I could say it was a Friday. I could say, a few years ago. I could add vagueness to my story to remove myself from the sharpness of its pain. But the truth is, I know the date, the time, the weather, the exact space I was parked in. All of it. I know the song that came on the radio when I slid back into the driver’s seat and put the key in the ignition. I know what we were both wearing, and what we’d said.At the time, I couldn’t have explained how it felt, other than lonely. It
  
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• Racists think they can do what they like in Britain. We can prove them wrong

  12-08-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  In what circumstances might you expect a violent mob to congregate outside your home, hurling bricks at your windows and attacking police officers trying to protect you? What might you have done to merit the mob’s attempts to break into your home? Who would you need to be sheltering? What hideous crimes would need to have occurred?And whatever your answers to these questions, however “deserving” you were or were not of the attention, how frightened would you be by the sound of
  
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• I never imagined I’d have no social life in my 20s – but I’m fine with it

  10-08-2026 11:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  If you asked me a few years ago to picture how my twenties would look, I’d have imagined a diary full of after-work drinks, spontaneous weekends away and a group chat that never went quiet.The reality now, at the age of 24, is that I live three hours away from my closest friends and see them just once a year, some even less. And although this feels controversial to admit having such little face-time with friends, I am completely fine with it.After moving from Buckinghamshire to Cheshire, m
  
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• What Meta’s major child safety fine could mean for social media reforms

  07-08-2026 08:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Meta has been ordered to pay a major $567m (£421m) fine to address harms to young people in the second part of a landmark case against the tech giant.A New Mexico court in the United States imposed the penalty on Thursday, local time, with Judge Bryan Biedscheid saying the bulk of the money would be directed to treatment services for children and teens.The case, which Meta lost in March, has already seen a jury levy $375m (£279m) in fines against the owner of Facebook, Instagram, Wha
  
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• What Meta’s £421m child safety fine could mean for social media reforms

  07-08-2026 08:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Meta has been ordered to pay a major $567m (£421m) fine to address harms to young people in the second part of a landmark case against the tech giant.A New Mexico court in the United States imposed the penalty on Thursday, local time, with Judge Bryan Biedscheid saying the bulk of the money would be directed to treatment services for children and teens.The case, which Meta lost in March, has already seen a jury levy $375m (£279m) in fines against the owner of Facebook, Instagram, Wha
  
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• Smoking is cool again. How embarrassing

  07-08-2026 08:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  When I was a child I was led to believe that great diabolical temptation, “smoking”, would present itself to me, serpentine, hanging around a disused bike shed or down a ginnel on the way home from school.It would probably involve peer pressure, and how I responded to it would determine both the course of my future and my classification as either a good or bad person. It did not seem difficult to do. I had grown up in a world where smoking was bad: bad for your health, done by bad gi
  
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• Putin is losing his battle with ‘Russia’s Zuckerberg’ – and being openly mocked

  05-08-2026 16:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  A day after being charged by Russian authorities with assisting terrorist activity and being placed on an international “wanted” list, the founder of the Telegram messaging app responded – with a meme.Pavel Durov, a 41-year-old tech billionaire sometimes dubbed “Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg”, showed little sign of concern over the case launched by the Federal Security Service (FSB) last week.Writing to his 11.3 million followers from his haven in Dubai, Durov said
  
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• How Steven Bartlett fooled the world

  27-07-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  When George Orwell wrote 1984, he devised a language, Newspeak, in which a simplified and restricted version of English was introduced to diminish the intellectual and emotional range of the population. When I read words like “grindset”, “hustle” and “maxxing”, I experience the same cognitive shrinkage. These are terms designed to gloss over the complex interrelations of capitalism, and nobody has come to emblematise this kind of vapid corporate jargon quite l
  
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• Dua Lipa: the ‘magical thinker’ unwittingly making Britain’s young women miserable

  27-07-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Who broke Britain? Welcome to The i Paper’s opinion series in which experts and writers debate the issues that concern them about modern Britain.• You won’t know James Bevan, but you should know what he did to this country
  • Boris Johnson wrecked Britain. But this man left even deeper scars
  • The hardcore socialist whose ruinous idea is why Liz Truss became PM
  • Martin Lewis: the money-saving expert… who accidentally cost Brito
  
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• The worrying Japanese phenomenon of Hikikomori is emerging among our teens

  26-07-2026 18:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  There’s a term that strikes fear into Japanese parents: Hikikomori – when teenagers become so withdrawn that they don’t leave the house for months or even years.But perhaps it isn’t only a phenomenon in Japan: one in seven UK university students now show early signs of Hikikomori, according to a small survey.It could also be contributing to the growing number of British young people who are NEET – not in education, employment or training – said Dr Yoko Nagai,
  
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• Stormy Daniels: I’d rather be called a whore than a hypocrite

  24-07-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Welcome to Trump’s America, The i Paper’s World Insight series presenting the sharpest, deepest thinking on an era-defining shift in history and politics, investigating how Donald Trump and his administration have changed the US and the world – and where we go from here.• America can’t afford to retire
  • The US is becoming impossible to live in
  • The White House I worked for would have condemned this image. Trump refuses
  • Maga lead
  
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• How pop music works in 2026 – and why it’s about to drastically change

  21-07-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  From The Beatles to Billie Eilish, punk to K-pop, teenagers have been shaping the music industry for as long as it’s existed. They are the first to jump on new trends, the first to worship artists and the first to create a whole network of theories and discussion around releases. But that might all be about to change with the new social media ban for under-16s.It’s not the first, fifth or even 15th thing that the British government might’ve thought of when they began to imagine
  
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• Katie Hopkins: the queen of the hate economy getting the last laugh on Britain

  13-07-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  • You won’t know James Bevan, but you should know what he did to this country
  • Boris Johnson wrecked Britain. But this man left even deeper scars
  • The hardcore socialist whose ruinous idea is why Liz Truss became PM
  • Martin Lewis: the money-saving expert… who accidentally cost Britons billions
  • The American woman who ripped the heart out of Cadbury
  • The shadowy maverick who pulled Labour’s strings… and sun
  
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• Pinterest Launches 2 Powerful AI Marketing Tools.

  25-06-2026 14:28 via immediatefuture.co.uk
  
  If you’re a small business owner, you probably know how challenging it can be to attract new customers online while juggling everything else that comes with running a business. That’s why Pinterest’s latest announcement is worth paying attention to. The platform has unveiled two new
  <p>The post Pinterest Launches 2 Powerful AI Marketing Tools. first appeared on Immediate Future.</p>
  
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• How to Stand Out as a Brand on Social Media

  23-06-2026 11:52 via immediatefuture.co.uk
  
  Social media in 2026 is brutally crowded. Everyone is posting, everyone is optimising, and most brands are still trying to sound like a polite corporate email with a ring light. If you want to stand out, you need more than consistency. You need identity. The
  <p>The post How to Stand Out as a Brand on Social Media first appeared on Immediate Future.</p>
  
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• Social media giants could be forced to boost BBC content – four things to know

  22-06-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  The Government is reportedly considering forcing social media giants to push BBC content towards users.The proposals would reportedly require platforms like YouTube, Facebook and TikTok to give greater prominence to the BBC and other public service broadcasters in feeds, search results and algorithms.Here’s what the proposals might do and why the plan is already drawing criticism.Priority to BBC, ITV and Channel 4Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) sources told The Telegraph the
  
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• Children hired as ‘dispensable’ weapons by hostile states

  22-06-2026 07:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Children are being used as “dispensable” weapons by organised criminals and hostile states paying for crimes including murder and arson, international law enforcement leaders have warned.In Britain, the head of the National Crime Agency (NCA) said that “younger and younger” children were being investigated as the perpetrators of serious crimes and that a 15-year-old boy had recently been arrested on suspicion of trying to import a gun.Several of the suspects arrested over
  
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• Social media – the top news source

  18-06-2026 10:58 via immediatefuture.co.uk
  
  The latest insights from Reuters into news consumption behaviours sees social media topping the table. We look into why this is, and how it’s all potentially come about. The 2026 Digital News Report from Reuters revealed social’s top place in the news standings – based
  <p>The post Social media – the top news source first appeared on Immediate Future.</p>
  
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• Emily Maitlis: My trip to Makerfield convinced me I’ve got something very wrong

  17-06-2026 19:52 via inews.co.uk
  
  There is nothing like being right. Being so certain. Feeling the kind of self assurance that makes you walk taller and command a room with your thinking. That was where I was on Monday morning.Keir Starmer had delivered one of his most assured, most prime ministerial statements of his premiership – the long awaited, and indeed longed-for, ban on social media for the under-16s.It was time to give children back their childhoods, argued the PM. And to give parents a break from hammering them.
  
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• Fake patriots have a new playbook – and it’s going to destroy the UK

  17-06-2026 08:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  There are two types of patriot: the kind who fetishise flags and the kind who prioritise people. In the UK, thanks to a toxic coalition of grifters, politicians and the richest man in the world, the first kind are currently enjoying a period of unprecedented dominance over the second.It took me years to fully understand what Samuel Johnson meant when he described patriotism as “the last refuge of a scoundrel”. As a child, a love for your country comes almost as naturally as a love of
  
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• 1 Big Instagram Update for Businesses.

  16-06-2026 15:45 via immediatefuture.co.uk
  
  Instagram is giving users more control over what they see in the app by expanding its “Your Algorithm” feature to the main feed. The feature allows users to tell Instagram which topics they want to see more of and which they’d prefer to see less
  <p>The post 1 Big Instagram Update for Businesses. first appeared on Immediate Future.</p>
  
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• The far right are promoting Restore – and undermining Nigel Farage

  16-06-2026 15:24 via inews.co.uk
  
  In online chat groups, white nationalists, neo-Nazis and far-right activists are fired up. Those normally indifferent or outright hostile to parliamentary politics are putting their hope in Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain.His online popularity has earned Lowe a vocal group of supporters from across Britain that means Restore is now seen as a genuine threat to Nigel Farage and Reform UK. In Makerfield, it could cost the party the by-election, some observers believe.But among Restore’s f
  
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• Trump and Musk have won their war on facts

  16-06-2026 11:30 via inews.co.uk
  
  When Donald Trump began his campaign for the American presidency a decade ago, he instantly made it his mission to undermine faith in the established news media – and he has succeeded.Before he even entered the White House, Trump blacklisted a host of news outlets. When faced with challenging questions he claimed a female journalist was menstruating and cruelly mimicked a New York Times reporter with a disability. Ever since, he has decried professional journalism as “fake news&rdquo
  
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• All the unanswered questions as Starmer bans under-16s from social media

  15-06-2026 13:30 via inews.co.uk
  
  Keir Starmer has announced that under-16s will be banned from major social media platforms, including TikTok, Instagram and Snapchat, as early as next year.Setting out the plans, the Prime Minister said he was “not prepared to compromise on the safety and happiness of our children”.He admitted that bringing in the ban “won’t be easy”, but insisted that the UK has to “resist that kind of learned helplessness” and work hard to find an effective model.The b
  
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• Nine in 10 of my students have been sent a d**k pic – it’s horrifying

  15-06-2026 13:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Sir Keir Starmer has announced a full social media ban for children under 16. He is following Australia by introducing minimum age restrictions on sites including TikTok, Instagram, Threads, YouTube, Facebook and Snapchat, which will come into force next year. He is also planning “world-leading action on gaming services”, and is expected to announce restrictions for older teenagers that prevent late-night scrolling. Here, an experienced teacher tells India Sturgis how technology has
  
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• Phone curfew for under-18s and no TikTok: How UK social media ban will work

  14-06-2026 23:30 via inews.co.uk
  
  Sir Keir Starmer is expected to announce that the Government is pushing forward with a ban on social media for under-16s.The UK is expected to go further than a similar ban in Australia, with measures to stop teenagers using certain platforms, as well as curbing the daily usage for 16 and 17-year-olds.While some details of the policy remain unclear, here’s what to expect from Starmer’s plan which will be announced on Monday.
  Ban on social media sitesThe UK will follow Australia in ba
  
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• My six year old got addicted to YouTube. Here’s what I wish I’d known

  13-06-2026 11:00 via inews.co.uk
  
  Keir Starmer is expected to announce a ban on social media for under-16s within the next 10 days, following Australia’s lead. This isn’t surprising given the research that shows just how harmful TikTok and Instagram are to kids. But why aren’t we also talking about YouTube?YouTube is apparently used by 67 per cent of children in the UK, and out of secondary school children who have come across harmful content, 53 per cent encountered it on TikTok and 36 per cent on YouTube.YouT
  
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• Elon Musk may be a trillionaire – but he is still a tragic loser

  12-06-2026 12:23 via inews.co.uk
  
  What did you do in the days before your life’s biggest triumph? Perhaps it was getting married, selling a business, landing a long-wanted job, or watching years of effort come together into the thing you had always hoped it might become.Perhaps you went out for a nice meal, or sat nervously thrumming your fingers on the table, too nervous with excitement to think about anything else.Elon Musk is about to shepherd his newly-merged conglomerate, SpaceX, on to the stock market in the biggest
  
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