There’s no such thing as a festive slowdown in the world of tech – and this month social media networks dominate the news. Here’s what’s caught our attention.

TikTok has dominated headlines this month. The video-sharing site was under fire at the beginning of the month for censoring users’ content in a bid to prevent bullying on the platform. The misguided effort, as The Guardian puts it, meant the platform removed posts from users identified as disabled, fat or LGBTQ+.

These problems didn’t stop the social network from then announcing ecommerce plans as part of its advertising push. In an interview with the FT, TikTok executives talked about the firm’s plans to ramp up spending ‘across all functions’ and consider how to let users shop directly from brands.

And in case we needed reminding of the power of these networks, one Snap on Snapchat prompted 63,000 people to register to vote in the UK’s general election. Dubbed a ‘youthquake’, the Daily Mail, covers the story.

Looking for order, Twitter announced its plans to create an independent research group to create system that’s ‘open and decentralised’. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey believes this plan would enable individuals to use a variety of services to access the same network. For more details on the plans, head to Reuters.

Meanwhile, a different research group has called for laws to restrict emotion-detecting technology. The AI Now Institute says the field is built on ‘shaky foundations’ and this type of software should be banned from use in important decisions about people’s lives. More on BBC News.

And finally, we mustn’t forget that it is the season for giving. If you’re a charity, you should know that young supporters discover good causes via social media. The study is covered in full on Forbes.

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