WhatsApp is about to introduce ads in its messaging app
"Obviously there's overlap," said WhatsApp boss Will Cathcart, as reported by the BBC. "We have Stories on Instagram and Stories on WhatsApp, and we now have a way for businesses to promote themselves in both, and we think that's a good thing."
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NBC News
29 minutes ago
- NBC News
Iran plunged into a near-internet blackout during deepening conflict
Iran plunged into a near-total internet blackout on Tuesday as Israel continued to bombard the country. Two companies that track global internet connectivity, Kentinc and Netblocks, told NBC News that Iran's internet connectivity plummeted around 5:30 p.m. local time, limiting Iranians' ability to access and share information with the outside world as the country becomes more deeply involved in conflict. The drop appears to be a result of a decision by Iran's government, rather than due to Israeli strikes on infrastructure. Fatemeh Mohajerani, a spokesperson for Iran's government, said it had restricted internet access in response to Israeli cyberattacks. Iran's government has historically shut down or reduced its internet connectivity with the outside world in times of civil unrest. Most recently, in 2019, it implemented a six-day full blackout as protesters took to the streets across the country and the government issued a crackdown on civilians, leading to more than 100 people reportedly killed. The country's internet access has been reduced, but not fully blocked, in the aftermath of Israel's strikes on Iran last week, which Iran has said killed at least 224 people. Israel said that Iran's retaliatory attacks have killed at least 24. The internet slowdowns appeared to particularly affect services like VPNs used to access foreign sites. Amir Rashidi, the director of digital rights and security at the Miaan Group, a nonprofit that advocates for human rights in Iran, told NBC News that some Western apps for communicating, including WhatsApp and Instagram, as well as the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, had been blocked in the country. A WhatsApp spokesperson told NBC News that its parent company, Meta, has been engaged in a cat-and-mouse game with Iran, which has been blocking internet providers used by the company. Iran's National Information Network, a nationwide network of government-approved sites that are not connected to the outside world, has largely remained accessible to people in Iran. Data published Tuesday by internet services company Cloudflare found that two major Iranian mobile network providers were effectively disconnected. As internet services have been reduced in the country, some online have called for Elon Musk's satellite internet service provider Starlink to step in. In an X post on June 13, Musk wrote, 'The beams are on' in response to a call for Starlink access for Iranians. Iran has formally banned Starlink satellite internet terminals, and the country's Saed News agency has warned that the use of Starlink in the country could be used to help direct Israeli attacks. While Starlink does not formally have an option to operate within Iran's borders, it does offer users a Global Roam option, marketed for international travel. Starlink's parent company, SpaceX, did not respond to a request for comment. But a spokesperson for Holistic Resilience, a nonprofit that advocates for information access in closed societies, said that the organization estimates there are between 30,000 and 40,000 Starlink terminals spread across Iran, based on network scans and conversations with people involved in selling them to people in the country. Meanwhile, Iran's National Cybersecurity Command announced that Israel had launched a broad cyberwarfare campaign against Iran's digital infrastructure in order to disrupt services to the public, but did not provide specifics of what was affected. Iranian news site Shargh Daily reported that Iran's cyber police agency, FATA, said Tuesday that the Iranian government had imposed some internet disruptions after the cyberattacks, and that service would be restored soon. That statement came after a prominent pro-Israel hacker group that calls itself Predatory Sparrow claimed on X and Telegram, where it maintains a social media presence, to have conducted a destructive cyberattack against Bank Sepah, a national bank under U.S. sanctions for alleged ties to Iran's military. Some Iranian ATMs were not functional Tuesday, a source on the ground told NBC News. The members of Predatory Sparrow are unknown and the group did not respond to a request for comment. It was not possible to determine if the group is affiliated with any Israeli military or intelligence agency.
Reuters
2 hours ago
- Reuters
All new Facebook videos to be classified as Reels soon, Meta says
June 17 (Reuters) - All new videos uploaded on Facebook will soon be classified as Reels, simplifying how users publish visual content, social media giant Meta Platforms (META.O), opens new tab said on Tuesday. The Instagram parent said Reels on Facebook will no longer have length or format restrictions, and include all types of video content — short, long and live. Previously uploaded video content will remain as such on the platform while videos posted after the change will be classified as Reels. The company will also rename the Video tab as Reels tab. As part of the update, users will be prompted to confirm their audience setting or select a new one if their feed posts and Reels currently have different settings. The update will also give users access to more creative tools. Meta said it will gradually roll out these changes globally to profiles and pages over the coming months.
The Independent
4 hours ago
- The Independent
Iran asks its people to delete WhatsApp from their devices
Iranian state television on Tuesday afternoon urged the country's public to remove the messaging platform WhatsApp from their smartphones, alleging the app — without offering specific evidence — gathered user information to send to Israel. In a statement, WhatsApp said it was 'concerned these false reports will be an excuse for our services to be blocked at a time when people need them the most.' WhatsApp uses end-to-end encryption, meaning a service provider in the middle can't read a message. 'We do not track your precise location, we don't keep logs of who everyone is messaging and we do not track the personal messages people are sending one another," it added. 'We do not provide bulk information to any government.' End-to-end encryption means that messages are scrambled so that only the sender and recipient can see them. If anyone else intercepts the message, all they will see is a garble that can't be unscrambled without the key. WhatsApp is owned by Meta Platforms, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. Iran has blocked access to various social media platforms over the years but many people in the country use proxies and virtual private networks, or VPNs, to access them. It banned WhatsApp and Google Play in 2022 during mass protests against the government over the death of a woman held by the country's morality police. That ban was lifted late last year. WhatsApp had been one of Iran's most popular messaging apps besides Instagram and Telegram.
