There’s been lots happening across social media this week. From Instagram and Twitter banning certain types of posts to Snapchat updating their ever-expanding collection of AR features. Let’s go…

Twitter Bans Political Ads To Combat Misinformation

People are talking more and more about what social platforms should be doing regarding political posts & ads. Twitter’s CEO and Founder Jack Dorsey recently announced that it is working to ban all political ads.

Of course, he revealed the news in a series of tweets. You can view the full thread here. The thread includes this statement:

“A political message earns reach when people decide to follow an account or retweet. Paying for reach removes that decision, forcing highly optimized and targeted political messages on people. We believe this decision should not be compromised by money.”

Dorsey’s movement is a big change to that of Mark Zuckerberg, who recently spoke publicly about the use of social platforms for free speech. Dorsey has criticised this saying there are ‘major gaps and flaws’ in his argument.

Snapchat Adds Free AR Drawing Option

Snapchat is releasing a new option allowing you to paint your own 3D AR elements from the app. Just open Lenses and press the ‘Create’ button.

@culturengine Snapchat’s product lead.

The new feature ads another element to Snapchat’s growing AR features. As you browse their AR options you can face changing options, games and community created Lens collections & Lens Studio.

Snapchat seems to be holding its title as the top AR platform and we’ve not doubt they’ll continue to develop new features to ensure they aren’t beaten. They’re obviously pretty confident in their features as they’ve got TikTok lenses for their users to use.

Instagram Is Testing Following List Categories To Help You Organise Your Feed

According to Jane Manchun Wong, reverse engineering expert, made the discovery of Instagram trialling a new process where your Following list would be categorised into topic categories and listings based upon your engagement with them. It would help you to manage the content in your feed more effectively.

As we can see, it would automatically sort the people you are following into topics such as ‘travel’, ‘fashion’ and ‘art’. They’d be based on information within Instagram business pages. As well as topics there would be lists such as ‘least interacted with’ based on your own activity. Some people have said that this list could be Instagram’s way of suggesting accounts to unfollow – something you may not have considered before.

Instagram Expands The Ban on Self-Harm Images So That It Includes Depictions in Drawings & Meme Posts

In February Instagram announced a ban on graphic images of self-harm. They are now expanding what it covers to ensure the safety of the platforms most vulnerable users.

Instagram explained the changes in a blog post. Their chief, Adam Mosseri, has also spoken about the implications of this type of content:

“Nothing is more important to me than the safety of the people who use Instagram, particularly the most vulnerable. Suicide and self-harm are difficult and complex topics that people understandably care deeply about. These issues are complicated – there are many opinions about how best to approach them — but they matter a lot, and to me, as a parent, they certainly hit home.”