The government’s draft regulation for digital, social media and OTT platforms will be a threat to freedom of speech and curb people’s basic rights, experts said today.

Sri Lanka's attempt to contain spiralling protests by blocking popular social media platforms led to an extraordinary spike in the use of censorship-dodging virtual private networks, a tracking firm said Monday. Demand for VPNs went up by a staggering 17,000 per cent on Sunday when the ban came into effect, Top10VPN.com said after tracking downloads by Sri Lankan users.

In the minutes and hours after Will Smith accosted and slapped Chris Rock before a live audience of millions, social media platforms lit up with a breathless and emphatic hot take: Surely, multitudes insisted, the whole thing was staged.

Russian tech entrepreneurs are reportedly set to launch the Russian version of Instagram, Rossgram. This announcement follows the nationwide Instagram ban on Russia earlier this week.

Do any of these apply to you?

A career in social media is not unheard of. However, it might still sound somewhat new to many. 

Online classes opened a window none of us knew was possible.

"Bored and lonely? Blame your phone."

What makes the platform so appealing to regular users and content creators?

Career opportunities that you can go for if you’re good at writing.

With social media, congregating with like-minded peers is a lot easier.

The trend is very reminiscent of old school chain mails.

The impossible has happened. Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp et al — social media, as we know it, was down for some six hours. And, we survived!

If you are fairly active on Facebook, you might have noticed a new trend that goes by #Howmuchyouvechangedchallenge or 2011 vs 2021. The rules are very simple. You open your profile pics, choose your first solo profile pic, choose your last solo profile pic and post them side by side so everyone can see how much you have changed over the years.

In 2017, Umbarin Karim created the page, Ambi’s Gift Basket, which was quite a novel concept at that time, with hardly any competitors offering gift baskets through a Facebook page.

Where do you fall on the spectrum?

Social media platforms like Facebook and Instagram help us stay in touch with family and friends, but interacting with strangers is risky as that would require us to share our personal lives with them and maybe even end up interacting with fake profiles. This is where dating apps like Tinder provide a safe space to meet new people without giving away sensitive information. 

Spoiler alert. The world does not revolve around you.

The "general sentiment" of a post becomes a joke within minutes.

Stressing the need for ensuring cybersecurity, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina yesterday urged all to cross-check any information before sharing it on social media for the good of the country and the society.