The algorithm powering TikTok’s vaunted For You page is reportedly getting help from human collaborators. Although the personalized feed was said to be based on user interests and selections, “employees regularly engage in ‘heating,’ a manual push that ensures specific videos ‘achieve a certain number of video views,’ according to six sources and documents reviewed by Forbes.” What’s more, while the algorithm does have a say in what goes viral, staff at TikTok and ByteDance are also hand-picking specific videos to give preferential treatment, saturating their distribution throughout the user base. Continue reading TikTok Is Accused of Manually ‘Heating’ Personalization Feed

Twitter has reintroduced its Twitter Blue paid subscription service, which will cost $11 a month for those using Apple mobile devices and $8 monthly for those who sign up using web browsers. The iOS premium compensates for the 30 percent initial fee Apple charges developers for subscriptions purchased through its App Store (which falls to 15 percent after a year). Twitter owner Elon Musk previously tweeted complaints about Apple’s pricing policy, which has also rankled other developers. Twitter Blue subscribers get access to features including editable tweets, upgraded video and a blue verification check mark. Continue reading Twitter Reboots Blue Subscription, Charges iOS Users More

Google plans to introduce its next smartphone, the Pixel 4, with new gesture technology. The company, betting that gestures will be the “next big thing” after touchscreens, dubbed the controls “Motion Sense,” and unveiled a video showing controls such as blinking and hand waving. When Pixel 4 is debuted in October, its Motion Sense will turn off alarms, skip songs, and silence phone calls. Gesture technology is expected to be a dramatic change in how we interface not just with phones, but many other electronic devices. Continue reading Google’s Upcoming Pixel 4 to Feature Gesture Technology

Almost a year ago, two of Twitter’s top executives decided that banning all speech considered “dehumanizing” would be a solution to making its site safer. This week Twitter unveiled its official guidelines of what constitutes dehumanizing speech — and they now solely focus on religious groups, representing a retreat from some of Twitter’s first unofficial rules. The company said the narrowing of its scope is due to unexpected obstacles in defining speech for its 350 million users who speak 43-plus languages. Continue reading Twitter Guidelines Narrow Scope of Dehumanizing Speech

This week, publishing executives, technology leaders, and public interest groups gave testimony regarding ownership of purchased digital goods. The “first sale” rule currently allows people to resell or lend out physical goods like music and books, while this law does not cover digital goods, such as those sold by Amazon and Apple. Post-testimony, the House Judiciary Committee remained skeptical that property rights of physical goods should extend to the digital world. Continue reading Congress: Should the First Sale Rule Include Digital Goods?

The FCC’s new chairman, Tom Wheeler, spoke on Monday about usage-based pricing for Internet bandwidth, which has been strongly debated among public interest groups. Wheeler expressed his support for remaining steady with current Net neutrality rules. During a Q&A session at Ohio State University, he also suggested the marketplace should be allowed to “evolve” before coming to an ultimatum about whether providers should charge consumers based on bandwidth usage. Continue reading FCC Chair: “When Competition is High, Regulation Can Be Low”