Updates at foot of post. Following widespread public protests in Egypt, the country’s government is reportedly coming down heavily on social media. Twitter and Facebook have already been blocked for several hours and now we have word that Google services, including YouTube have been added to the list. With the social media-fueled recentuprisingin nearby Tunisia fresh in the region’s memory, it’s perhaps unsurprising that the government is apparently attempting to keep a lid on things by throttling online methods of communication....

Facebook and YouTube take action against QAnon — but they’re fighting a losing battle QAnon now a global phenomenon Until this year, most people had never heard of QAnon. But over the course of 2020, the fringe movement has gained widespread tractiondomestically in the United Statesandinternationally—including a number of Republican politicians who openly campaigned as Q supporters. I have been researching QAnon for more than two years and its recent evolution has shocked even me....

Update at the foot of the post. In what appears to be an act of confidence, today marks the firstday in 5 yearsthat YouTube and Facebook will be publicly accessible to the Syrian people. Syria’s state-owned incumbent fixed line operator ISP, theSyrian Telecommunications Establishment(STE) requested from its licensed distributors to permit access to Facebook and Twitter which should come in effect as of today. The news has been flowing in throughTwitterand Facebook stating: “Facebook & YouTube unblocked in Syria as of today....

Another day, another product category Facebook wants to dip its toes in. Today Facebook announced Bulletin, a newsletter product built to take on platforms likeSubstackandTwitter’s Revue. Bulletin will allow writers to post free and paid newsletters and podcasts. Some benefits will of course be behind a paywall, like badges andsubscriber-onlyFacebook groups. Transactions are handled via Facebook Pay, naturally. The platform won’t be open to the public at launch, but Facebook has summoned a bevy of writers on different topics for Bulletin’s launch, although according to an earlier report byRecode, the company is trying to avoid more controversial voices at launch....

All eyes are on Facebook today as the social network holds its 4th F8 conference. We’ve already seen some massive changes this past week including a newsubscribe modelsimilar to Twitter,smarter friend lists,new status updatesandGoogle+ style photo layouts. Also,where’s the poke button? For the last 7 years, Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, has attracted 800 million people to sign up for his social network. “By now, most people see that social networks are going to be a ubiquitous tool used by people around the world to stay connected everyday…....