Facebook is shutting down its Trending Topics section
R.I.P. Trending Topics: 2014-2018.
- Three Folio Eddie award wins: 2018 science & technology writing (Cartoon bunnies are hacking your brain), 2021 analysis (Deepfakes' election threat isn't what you'd think) and 2022 culture article (Apple's CODA Takes You Into an Inner World of Sign)
Trending Topics started in 2014 and caused plenty of headaches for Facebook.
Facebook will remove its troubled "Trending Topics" section next week, the company said Friday, signaling that the controversial feature was better off dead as Facebook builds different products for news.
The section, which takes up important real estate on the social network's desktop interface, has faced backlash since it first rolled out in 2014. Often criticized for surfacing conspiracies and fake information, like a hoax about 9/11 and a false article about then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, the Trending Topics section sparked an outcry in 2016 when a report alleged the feature purposely suppressed conservative news outlets.
Facebook's reaction to that 2016 controversy -- to pull human moderators off Trending Topics so it's stocked purely by an algorithm -- has been cited as opening the door for larger scandals like electorate tampering and misinformation campaigns. A perception that Facebook had editorial bias made leadership skittish about even creating the appearance it was suppressing news, which gave fake stories a clearer path to spread.
On Friday, Facebook minimized Trending Topics' impact in a blog post announcing the change. "It was only available in five countries and accounted for less than 1.5 percent of clicks to news publishers on average," Alex Hardiman, Facebook's head of news products, said in the post. "From research we found that over time people found the product to be less and less useful."
The date for Trending Topics to be removed is Thursday, June 7.
Facebook said it is testing different ways for news to spread on its Facebook instead, including a "breaking news" label and a dedicated section on Facebook for local news called Today In. It will also launch news videos like live coverage, daily news briefings and weekly deep dives in its Watch tab, the service's home base for video.
Facebook shared some early results from some of these product tests. The "breaking news" tag, which is being tested by 80 publishers, has caused a 4 percent increase in people clicking through links and an 11 percnent lift in people sharing those stories. The Today In section, which is being piloted in 33 US cities, is driving an average of 8 percent more traffic outbound from Facebook to the publishers themselves.
First published June 1 at 8:20 a.m. PT.
Update at 11:06 a.m. PT: Adds date for Trending Topics to be taken down.
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TikTok Is Back In The App Stores. Here's What You Need to Know
The return means new TikTok users can now get the app and existing ones can again get software updates.
TikTok is back in the apps stores.
TikTok returned to the Apple and Google app stores Thursday night, weeks after being pulled down in the wake of a US ban of the popular social media app that technically took effect in January.
Both Apple and Google had pulled the app from its stores on Jan. 19 to comply with a law passed by Congress last year that gave TikTok until that date to sell itself to a buyer deemed fit by US officials or face being banned. Companies that supported TikTok's operations after that date could potentially face hefty fines.
TikTok, itself, briefly went dark in the US, before coming back online after receiving assurances from incoming President Donald Trump that it would not be prosecuted. Trump later formalized that by signing an executive order on his first day in office directing the attorney general to not enforce the ban for 75 days. But it's unclear if that order will pass legal muster.
In the order, Trump said he plans to consult with his advisers, including the heads of relevant federal agencies, about the national security concerns posed by TikTok and "pursue a resolution that protects national security while saving a platform used by 170 million Americans."
The order could face legal challenges. It's unclear if Trump has the authority to direct the Justice Department to not enforce the law, which was passed by wide margins in both houses of Congress and signed into law by President Joe Biden last year.
Some of TikTok's online service providers resumed supporting the app right away. TikTok's website and mobile apps have been operational, but the apps hadn't returned to either Apple or Google's app stores until Thursday night, making them unavailable to users that didn't have them before Jan. 19.
Lawmakers in both political parties have long voiced concerns that TikTok could be a threat to national security and could be used by the Chinese government to spy on Americans or spread disinformation to further China's agenda. TikTok continues to deny those accusations.
Read more: TikTok Backups: 6 Similar Apps for Your Daily Dose of Fun
Under the law, TikTok had until Jan. 19 to sell itself to a buyer deemed fit by US officials or face a federal ban. The president has the option of extending that period by 90 days, but only if certain conditions were met, such as if a sale were in progress.
TikTok expressed its thanks to Trump in a statement posted on the social media platform X when it came back online Sunday after briefly going dark Saturday night ahead of the start of the ban. TikTok CEO Shou Chew also was one of the major tech executives with a prime seat behind Trump at his inauguration.
"We will work with President Trump on a long-term solution that keeps TikTok in the United States," the statement read.
So what exactly happened over the weekend and what's next for TikTok? Here's what you need to know.
Weekend shutdown
TikTok shut down in the US the night of Jan. 18, citing the law banning it. But Trump said the next morning that he would sign an executive order shortly after being inaugurated that would postpone the ban, prompting TikTok to come back online.
In a post on his Truth Social platform, Trump asked the companies that provide the online support needed for TikTok to operate in the US -- and who could face hefty fines for violating the ban -- to not let the app "go dark," promising that the executive order was coming.
He went on to propose the creation of a joint venture in which the US would have a 50% position on, though he didn't specify whether he meant a US company or the US government.
"By doing this, we save TikTok, keep it in good hands and allow it to stay up," Trump said. "Without US approval, there is no TikTok. With our approval, it is worth hundreds of billions of dollars -- maybe trillions."
The shutdown came after a flurry of statements heading into the weekend that made it uncertain just what would happen with TikTok when the ban started on Sunday.
TikTok said earlier that week that it would "go dark" on Jan. 19 unless it received clear assurances from government officials that the ban wouldn't be enforced. Statements issued by the Biden White House and the Department of Justice "failed to provide the necessary clarity and assurance" to the service providers required to make TikTok available in the US, TikTok said in a statement on X.
But the Biden White House called TikTok's remarks a "stunt," saying there was no reason for TikTok or other companies to take any action before the Trump administration took over on Jan. 20. Also ahead of the shutdown, Trump told NBC News that he would "most likely" delay the TikTok ban for 90 days after taking office.
Those statements came after the US Supreme Court last week rejected TikTok's request to overturn the law, siding with the government's argument that the ban isn't about free speech but about ownership and national security.
Trump, who pushed for a ban during his first term, now says he's no longer in favor of one. Ahead of the oral arguments, lawyers for Trump filed an amicus brief in the case. They didn't take a side but instead asked the court to delay the ban to give Trump time to come up with a "political resolution."
What does the law do?
The law is aimed at forcing TikTok's China-based parent company ByteDance to sell TikTok to a buyer American officials are OK with, as well as guaranteeing that ByteDance no longer has access to US user data or control over the TikTok algorithm.
Government officials and politicians are concerned that China could demand that TikTok hand over its US user data, then use it for intelligence purposes. They fret that China could modify TikTok's algorithm to inundate Americans with Chinese propaganda.
TikTok was given nine months to comply, hence the Jan. 19 sale deadline, at which point the government could require the removal of its app from US app stores and that other tech companies stop supporting the app and website.
TikTok has long said that a sale is not an option. Even if the 75-day extension holds, it won't solve the problem if the company still refuses to sell.
Read more: TikTok Loves to Give Financial Advice. But Don't Believe Everything You Hear
What's Trump's take?
After originally calling for a ban during his first presidency, Trump said during the 2024 campaign that he wasn't in favor of one and pledged to "save TikTok," though he didn't specify how he'd do that.
During a press conference in December, Trump pointed to the role TikTok played during the election, crediting it with helping him pick up the votes of young people.
"TikTok had an impact, and so we're taking a look at it," Trump told the press. "I have a little bit of a warm spot in my heart. I'll be honest."
Trump said in March on CNBC's Squawk Box that though he still viewed the app as a danger to national security, he no longer thought it should be banned, saying, "There are a lot of young kids on TikTok who will go crazy without it."
Trump added that banning TikTok would only boost the power of Facebook, which he referred to as an "enemy of the people."
Who has opposed the TikTok ban?
Free speech and digital rights groups, as well as some security experts, have long opposed the idea of a ban, saying that singling out TikTok doesn't do anything to solve the broader problems with social media. Several filed briefs with the high court supporting TikTok.
Instead, they argue that lawmakers would be better off passing comprehensive digital privacy laws that would protect the personal information of Americans by regulating the ability of all social media companies to collect, share and sell it.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation opposed the ban, arguing that it's unconstitutional on First Amendment grounds and filed an amicus brief in the Supreme Court case. But the digital rights group said Tuesday that it's also unconstitutional for Trump to ignore a law that's been passed by Congress, signed by another president and upheld by the Supreme Court.
"And we are also concerned about government pressure to force a sale based on the buyers' friendliness to the administration -- an especially pernicious type of 'jawboning' coercion," EFF Civil Liberties Director David Greene said in an EFF statement. "There are no winners here, unless Congress repeals this law."
CNET's Edward Moyer contributed to this report.
Services and Software Guides
Those Star Trek-Style Humane AI Pins Will Stop Working by End of the Month
All consumer data will be deleted as of Feb. 28, so if you own one, download your data now.
- Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won "Headline Writer of the Year" award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.
Humane AI pins, your days are numbered.
If you're among the smallish group of people who own a Humane AI pin, start saying your goodbyes. The wearable device, which CNET writer Scott Stein compared to "an AI-powered Star Trek communicator pinned to your shirt," is on its way out.
Humane announced Tuesday that it would stop selling the pins after the company revealed it will be acquired by HP. And don't think you'll have a lot of time to wind down, either -- this is a pretty accelerated timeline.
Read more: Humane AI Hands-On: My Life So Far With a Wearable AI Pin
"Your Ai Pin will continue to function normally until 12 pm PST on February 28, 2025," Humane said in the statement. "After this date, it will no longer connect to Humane's servers, and .Center access will be fully retired."
The AI Pin features will no longer include calling, messaging, AI queries and responses, and cloud access, and on Feb. 28, all remaining consumer data will be deleted, the company said.
"We strongly encourage you to sync your Ai Pin over Wi-Fi and download any stored pictures, videos, and notes from .Center before February 28, 2025," the statement said. "If you do not do this, your data will be lost upon deletion on February 28, 2025 at 12pm PST."
A representative for Humane did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
First-hand experience
CNET's Scott Stein reviewed the device in April 2024, noting that the $699 pin seemed like science fiction but was a chore to use.
"The ideas inside Humane's vision were interesting, but the execution -- and its total lack of connection with any phone -- made it feel absurd," Stein said on Tuesday. "Also it was hard to control, didn't work well and overheated extremely quickly."
Stein enjoyed the language translation feature and said its camera quality was "fine but not great." The device did not respond to voice activation and instead must be constantly tapped to be put into service.
The pin could read things out loud, try to identify cars, plants and locations, or describe a room, Stein said in his review. But not without issues. When he asked it to identify a can of Spindrift flavored sparkling water, it told him instead about a 2022 Apple TV Plus movie, possibly mishearing his asking the device to "look" for the movie's title, "Luck."
Computing Guides
Google Calendar Drops Black History Month, Holocaust Remembrance Day, More
The company says that as of 2024, it began listing only public holidays and national observances, not cultural and historical events.
In this 2006 photo, Google employees in China work by a paper calendar that features the company's logo tweaked to include the symbol for in honor of Woman's Day, March 8. The company says it can no longer maintain cultural and historic events on Google Calendar.
Facing another backlash that's put the company in political crosswinds, Google says that its removal of cultural holidays and events such as Black History Month from its Calendar app is a scaling issue and not ideological.
Although some users on social media began noticing and posting about the changes online recently, at the same time as the company was criticized for changing Gulf of Mexico to Gulf of America in Google Maps, Google says the Calendar changes happened in mid-2024, and that users can add their own observances manually.
Read more: Gulf of America Divides Google Maps From Apple and Microsoft's Offerings
Google says it is now only including "public holidays and national observances" in Calendar, and not adding cultural and historical events such as Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pride Month, Hispanic Heritage Month and Women's History Month.
'Not scalable or sustainable'
LIke other tech companies, Google is under increased scrutiny over changes it is making after the change in US presidential administrations. The company recently scaled back its diversity hiring and promotion targets in what Google said was a response to court decisions, executive orders and its role as a federal contractor.
"For over a decade we've worked with timeanddate.com to show public holidays and national observances in Google Calendar," a representative for the company said in a statement. "Some years ago, the Calendar team started manually adding a broader set of cultural moments in a wide number of countries around the world."
The spokesperson went on to say, "We got feedback that some other events and countries were missing — and maintaining hundreds of moments manually and consistently globally wasn't scalable or sustainable. So in mid-2024 we returned to showing only public holidays and national observances from timeanddate.com globally, while allowing users to manually add other important moments."
The company also pointed to other ways that it's promoting and celebrating Black History Month and Lunar New Year.
Timeanddate's website includes customized calendars that can include holidays only, holidays and observances, and other options. A calendar with "holidays and some observances" includes Cinco de Mayo, Black Friday and Father's Day. Another version includes many more including National Wear Red Day, Armed Forces Day and the first day of Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, for instance.
Computing Guides
Reddit's CEO Confirms Paid Subreddits Are in the Pipeline
A year after Reddit went public, the company's efforts to monetize its popular message boards continue.
In an AMA (Ask Me Anything) video stream last week for Reddit's 2024 fourth-quarter earnings, CEO Steve Huffman confirmed that the message-board giant is still working toward paid subreddits on the platform.
In response to a question from a user named Mdnz asking about the progress and development of paid subreddits, "E.g. people creating content that only paid members can see," Huffman replied, "I mentioned this a couple of quarters ago. It's a work in progress right now. That one's coming. We're working on it as we speak."
Last August, five months after the company went public, Huffman said the company was looking into monetizing subreddits, the message board groups typically created by users in its community.
Huffman didn't offer more details during last week's video call about how those paywalls would work. The company currently makes money primarily by selling ads and offering premium subscriptions for $50 a year or $6 a month. One subreddit, /r/lounge, is only accessible to those with a Reddit Premium account.
Reddit reported it had about 101.7 million daily active unique visitors in the fourth quarter, and it is hugely influential as one of the largest and most active community of users on the internet. The company has AI content licensing deals with Google and OpenAI, and says it's talking to major tech players about licensing its data. Google also routinely surfaces Reddit content prominently in search results.
During the AMA, Huffman said the company is still working on rolling out Reddit Answers, an AI-powered search engine for asking questions that was introduced late last year. He also said that there may be plans for Reddit to offer merchandise or ways for users to conduct sales transactions on the platform, similar to Facebook's Marketplace, but those plans are further out. "We're laying the foundation for that," he said.
