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You feel like going to Sri Lanka because you saw it on Instagram. The problem is that the person who recommended it to you was an AI

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The image is familiar. A young woman smiles from a beach with turquoise waters. In the following publication, he appears walking along a cobblestone street in Marrakech. Below, he poses at a luxury hotel in the Maldives. The skin is perfect, the body responds to the prevailing canons and the text accompanies with inspirational phrases about traveling, discovering cultures and “living in the moment.” Nothing seems out of place. Until you discover the reality. That traveler has not flown, she has not walked those streets or tried the food she recommends. It doesn’t exist. She is an influencer generated by artificial intelligence and is part of a phenomenon that is growing quietly: the normalization of artificial profiles that influence the real decisions of millions of people. A silent, but massive boom. In the last two years, Instagram and other social networks have been filled with virtual influencers: characters created with generative AI who pretend to be real people and publish travel content, lifestyle or fashion, the best known case in Spain is Aitana Lopez. Some indicate it more or less clearly in their biography; others do so ambiguously or almost invisibly. However, what is interesting here is how the examples multiply in the tourism sector. Sena Z has been presented as “the first travel and hospitality influencer created with AI”, It’s a collaboration between the luxury group Cenizaro Hotels & Resorts and the technology firm Bracai. Sena publishes cultural recommendations, messages about sustainability and photographs from exotic destinations. Another notable case is Emma, ​​the official influencer and chatbot of the German National Tourism Office. Emma not only publish content on Instagrambut answers questions in more than 20 languages ​​from the official website of the organization. As explained from the entity to the Washington Postits creation is part of a strategy to “stay at the forefront of digital innovation.” Other profiles are added to these profiles, such as Radhika, Emily Pellegrinior corporate avatars like Samathe Qatar Airways virtual stewardess who appears both on the airline’s website and on social networks, publishing as if she were living real experiences. These are not isolated experiments. As detailed by The New York Timesairlines, tourist offices and brands are increasingly turning to these avatars because they are cheaper, faster and completely controllable. An AI influencer does not get sick, does not get tired, does not age and does not generate personal controversies. Inexperienced influencers. The question is inevitable: what happens when the experience is not real? Just look through these profiles to see it: they recommend destinations, restaurants and cultures that they have not experienced. Even so, they generate engagementaccumulate thousands of likes and comments, and influence travel decisions. From the brands’ point of view, the appeal is evident. According to data collected by the New York mediacreating an advanced avatar can cost between $5,000 and $15,000, compared to traditional campaigns that easily exceed six figures. In addition, content can be produced without travel, without filming equipment and without negotiating with human talent. However, for real creators, the impact is already being felt. Human influencers cited by the same medium explain that brands are reducing payments, eliminating extras and offering less advantageous collaborations. AI thus becomes a new direct competition within the creative economy, a sector valued at more than 200 billion dollars globally. Is someone regulating it? While Technology advances quickly, regulation tries to catch up. Going home, in Europe, the clearest answer comes through the Artificial Intelligence Regulations (AI Act). Article 50, which will come into force in August 2026establishes transparency obligations for providers and users of AI systems. Among them: Report when a person interacts with an AI system. Mark content generated or manipulated by AI (text, image, audio or video) in detectable format. Force deepfakes and AI-generated texts that report on matters of public interest to be declared, unless there is human editorial review. The European Commission has already started the preparation of a Code of Good Practices for the marking and labeling of content generated by AI, with the participation of experts, platforms and civil society. The goal is to facilitate compliance before the law is fully applicable. However, many virtual profiles do not clearly indicate either their artificial nature or their commercial links, leaving the user in a field of ambiguity. Unreal bodies, algorithmic authority. Beyond destination promotion, most AI influencers share common traits: eternal youth, slim bodies, perfect skin and a total absence of imperfections. This phenomenon coincides with the return of Y2K aesthetics and extreme thinness on social networks, a trend that has been linked to a decline in body diversity. The most notable case was due to advertising campaigns with models generated by AI, like Guess in Vogue. Mental health experts warned that constant exposure to unreal bodies can aggravate self-esteem problems and increase risk of eating disorders. The difference, they point out, is key: while traditional retouching started from a real body, AI creates bodies that have never existedimpossible to achieve even in theory. This logic has been taken to the extreme with phenomena such as the Miss IA pageantwhere artificially generated models compete showing bodies without pores, without age and without history. According to plastic surgeonsmore and more patients come to consultation with images created by AI asking for impossible interventions and pointing out the risk of frustration, obsession and psychological damage. The underlying problem: we no longer know what is real. All of this occurs in a broader context: a crisis of visual confidence. As my colleague in Xataka has analyzedthe massive generation of hyperrealistic images has broken a chain that for centuries seemed solid: if something was seen, it had probably existed. Today, that presumption has disappeared. Seeing is no longer equivalent to knowing. In this new scenario, we not only doubt whether an influencer has really traveled, but also whether the image itself corresponds to something that happened. The consequence is a permanent suspicion that affects memory, attention and the way we relate to digital reality. The technical solution—seals, metadata, … Read more

Researchers removed Instagram and TikTok from 300 young people to see if their anxiety decreased. The results speak for themselves

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The debate about whether social networks are the new tobacco for the mental health of the generation Z It’s been on for years. There are many young people who They can’t go without watching TikTok completing the streak with their friends, uploading stories of what they eat to Instagram or simply away from the cell phone. And this is something that can be tremendously harmful. What we knew. Until now we could make one of them, and parents undoubtedly remember this message when they spend many hours in front of the phone. Even companies offer the tools to be able to limit the amount of time that we spend in an app and it even applies limits to us. With numbers. But now science has shed light on this problem with a published study in JAMA Network Open that provides concrete data. The premise was simple: ask a group of young adults (ages 18 to 24) to reduce their consumption of social networks this week. Once done, we wanted to see if the symptoms of anxiety, depression or insomnia were reduced. And it is precisely the excessive use of social networks is related to depressionsince it generates social isolation, low self-esteem, cyberbullying or even physical disorders due to the effects of blue light from the screen. So… Does giving up the cell phone also improve the quality of life of young people? The study. To do so, they not only focused on what users said they did with their mobile phones, since lying can be very easy in this case. What they did was passively record what was done with the phone through the ‘digital phenotyping‘. In total, there were 373 participants in this study, of which only 295 were able to complete the intervention, which was completely voluntary. They only had to reduce consumption for one week of the main social networks: Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and X. The results. Simply put, the results showed significant clinical improvement across key areas after just seven days. The data indicated that depression symptoms were reduced by 24.8%, anxiety by 16.1% and sleep problems fell by 14.5%. Interestingly, the study found that the effects were much more pronounced in those participants who already had symptoms of moderate or severe depression at the start of the experiment. Don’t let go of your cell phone. A priori, one might think that when a young person automatically leaves social networks aside, their cell phone will be of absolutely no use to them. But nothing could be further from the truth. He digital phenotyping revealed that although social media use fell from about 2 hours a day to just 30 minutes, total screen time increased slightly by 4.5% and participants spent 6.3% more time at home. In this way, users replaced the infinite scrolling of TikTok with other digital activities such as messaging, browsing the internet or even playing games. However, despite still being glued to the screen, mental health improved. This reinforces a theory that is gaining weight among experts: the problem is not the screen itself, but how we use it. The study points out that objective use time has a weak association with mental health, since what is really harmful is “problematic use”, such as negative social comparison or emotional addiction to platforms. Easier apps to leave. We can all have more ‘affection’ for a specific social network, which is surely more difficult to stop using. In this case, it was seen that it was easier for users to reduce the time they spent on TikTok or X. But Instagram or Snapchat were the “hard bones” to beat. Specifically, 67.8% of Instagram users and 48.8% of Snapchat users failed to comply with the reduction and continued to use them significantly during the detox process. It is not a treatment. Although the percentages sound like a victory, it is necessary to maintain the usual scientific skepticism. Dr. John Torous, co-author of the study, warns in statements collected for him New York Times that reducing networks “would certainly not be your first or only form of treatment (for mental health problems),” although it is worth experimenting with. This focuses on the fact that the study has some limitations such as the lack of a reference control group and it was not seen how long the detoxification process from social networks lasted. But what did not improve was loneliness, since eliminating these social networks in people can have the opposite effect by also cutting the connection link that unites them with other people. Images | Panos Sakalakis Vitaly Gariev In Xataka | Social networks were once a place to tell our lives. Now the trend is different: “zero posts”

How to share Spotify Wrapped 2025 on Instagram, WhatsApp or other apps

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Let’s tell you how to share your Spotify Wrapped data on social networks or any application. He Spotify Wrapped 2025 has already been released, and the best thing about this annual round of statistics is always sharing it and comparing it with your contacts and friends. That’s why we are going to tell you several ways you can do it. We will tell you how to share any slide, something quite simple but which option you may not have noticed. We will also tell you how to share the statistics page that appears at the end, and even the playlist. Remember that in addition to apps, you can also share all the statistics internally with Spotify contacts through its private messaging system. Share any slide from the Wrapped The Wrapped is made up of several slides. To share them, you have to wait for them to finish playing. These slides usually have animations, and nothing happens while they are running. But when they finish a button appears Share this story down at all. This button displays the sharing options of your mobile operating system. you should have shortcut to share it on Instagram Storiesbut also to send it on WhatsApp or share it in any other app. Besides, you will also see your Spotify contacts to send it as an internal message. You will also see an option Dischargewhich what it does is download the slide to your mobile memory so that you can share it manually through the medium or application you want. Share your Wrapped summary When you finish viewing all the stories in your Wrapped, you will see a final slide in the form of a summary. In it, you will be able to move it laterally to choose different color combinations, and when you have chosen one press the button Share. This will allow you to share it on social networks, messaging apps or download the slide to share it by hand wherever you want. In the section Wrapped from the Spotify app A category will also appear especially for you. In case you have not saved it while viewing the slides, here you will have the Wrapped playlistwith your most listened to songs of 2025. When you enter the playlist, you will only have to press the button Share that appears as with any other playlist. With it you can share the playlist with whoever you want in apps or internal messages, or even copy the link to paste it in other applications. In Xataka Basics | 53 third-party tools and apps to get the most out of Spotify with statistics, playlists and new features

There’s a reason you spend hours watching reels on Instagram until 3:00 AM: the science of doomscrolling

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It’s one in the morning. We should be sleeping but the finger is still sliding across the screen, scrolling through videos on TikTokreels on Instagram or posts on X. A viral meme, a new fire in the area or a new political crisis has us hooked on the screen. And although we may be exhausted, it cannot be stopped. If this scene sounds familiar to you, then welcome to the club. doomscrolling. A term that became massively popular during the pandemic and which can be defined as the habit of consuming prolonged form negative news or distressing, mainly through social networks. But behind this process, which may be very common in society right now, there are numerous chemical processes in the brain that science has not hesitated to investigate. The trap mechanism. To understand why we do doomscrollingwe must first understand that our brain did not evolve to have X or TikTok, but rather it evolved to survive. And it is not so long ago that humans were hunting for food or fleeing from a threat in nature, and it is something that our brain is still very much aware of. According to the most recent scientific literaturethe fact of sliding our screen down activates our reward brain circuits such as the dopaminergic system in each interaction. This drives us at all times to continue searching for information and evolutionarily knowing “where the danger is” was vital. The problem is that in this case the algorithm has no purpose, and we can spend 24 hours watching this type of news. But the reward system, which gives us ‘pleasure’ when knowing where the danger is, is not alone. It is accompanied by the amygdala which is the fear center in our brain. When seeing all this information, such as a war nearby in our territory, the brain interprets it as a potential threat that results in a large release of cortisol. This hormone is precisely known as the ‘stress hormone’, because it keeps the body in a state of hypervigilance. The result of these two circuits is quite clear as point out publications in Frontiers in Psychiatry and Brain Behavior: The brain seeks relief from information, but only finds more threats. This results in a toxic cycle being generated in which one seeks to calm down, becomes more scared, and searches again. The rotten brain. On social networks there is already a lot of talk of the term brain rot which translates to ‘brain rot’ like a real meme. but science has a very different opinionsince recent research suggests that repeated exposure to these fragmented stimuli with high emotional impact, with 15-second videos and alarmist headlines, have a high physical cost. The impact is located above all in executive functions (planning, organization, decision making…). And the constant alternation of these catastrophic contexts forces the brain to jump from one idea to another in milliseconds, and it is not something free. The cost we have to pay can be summarized in three points: Mental fatigue due to the high consumption of glucose that the brain has to make by having to constantly change focus. Deterioration of the prefrontal cortex, which is associated with a reduction in the efficiency of the area responsible for planning and impulse control. Processing blockage when the brain is on hyperalert. This makes it difficult to transfer information to long-term memory. Do we no longer know how to concentrate? This is the question we can all ask ourselves due to this phenomenon. The short answer from science is: we know, but it is much harder for us to “get started.” Studies on digital multitasking indicate that it is not that we have lost ability physiological of sustained attention, but we have trained our brain to expect interruptions. Deep attention (what you need to read a book for example) requires a “warm-up” time. He doomscrolling and the constant stream of notifications resets that counter constantly. Research collected in BMC Public Health they point out that attention remains “anchored” waiting for the next update. Even when you are not looking at your phone, a part of your cognitive resources is focused on it, reducing your performance on the task in front of you. It is not an irreversible decline, it is an atrophy due to lack of use of deep concentration circuits. There is hope. Despite the apocalyptic tone of the studies themselves on the subject, the scientific conclusion It’s not that we’re doomed. to be distracted automatons glued to a phone. The great advantage that humans have is neuroplasticity. With this term we mean that just as the brain learns to scroll compulsively, it can “unlearn.” Experts agree that the damage is not permanent unless the behavior becomes chronic for years without intervention. Evidence-supported strategies for breaking the cortisol-dopamine loop include: Set strict times to inform yourself and never before bed. Do exercises mindfulness as a tool to restore the default neural network. Allowing the brain to rest and ‘get bored’ without stimuli to help cleanse itself and regain the ability to focus. Images | Yazid N In Xataka | Young people have decided to stop posting (so much) on Facebook and Instagram. “AI-generated garbage” has free rein

Instagram has become a Chinese bazaar. My last purchase is the best proof of this

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Instagram is becoming a Chinese bazaar. And this is not a criticism, it is the truest definition of how companies are taking advantage of the platform to make gold by selling products that come from Chinese suppliers like Alibaba. The showcase cool and aspirational Instagram is transforming into a bazaar where dropshipping reigns with low-cost products made up of exclusive rarities. The fever for analog lenses that They simulate the look of old cameras disposables are the best example. With a faithful ally and a little patience you can discover, one by one, where those striking and apparently exclusive products that they try to sell us come from. 21 INSTAGRAM TRICKS – Tutorial with all the secrets! It all starts with an advertisement (well, with many). Three stories, one ad. We have long normalized that Instagram is full of advertisingsomething that companies know very well. In my particular case, my feed is quite full of content related to photography. And, for months, they were bombarding me with some very specific advertisements. 65,000 followers on one of the accounts and 30,000 on the other. Collaborations with influencers and a product that, to be honest, attracted a lot of attention. A lens shaped like an Oreo cookie that promises to emulate the look of the “disposable cameras“, the disposable cameras that you may have played with if you have a few years under your belt. a good business. One of the companies sells this product for 34.95 euros, the other for 44.95 euros. Taking into account that a good goal It costs more than 1,000 euros and since even the most mediocre kit lenses exceed 100 euros, it seems like a bargain. An economical, fun and different product, outside the catalog of the big camera brands. As a good Spaniard, my first reaction was to wonder if it could be even cheaper. Google Lens, my best ally. I have been obsessed with passing him for some time Google LenIt is any product from which I deduce Chinese origin. From electric motorcycles that sell in Spain for thousands of euros and cost just $600 on Alibaba to… targets shaped like an Oreo cookie and features clonal to those of the brands that advertise them. It didn’t take me even five seconds to find the target on AliExpress. 14 euros. This is how much it costs to buy an Oreo lens on AliExpress. One with a 32mm fixed focal length and f/10 aperture. The lens sold by its rival Instagrammers is also a 32mm, in this case with f/11 as described. It is something impossible to verify, since this lens does not have electronic pins, it does not communicate with the camera (it is literally putting a piece of plastic in front of the sensor) and it does not offer data on focal length or aperture. “Brand” objective | AliExpress target. Everyone draws their own conclusions. I’m not saying they are the same, but they are the same.. E-commerce through platforms like Shopify is a good thing for the user. You buy a product with fast shipping, seller guarantees and packaging that is probably more attractive than the plastic in which AliExpress delivers its products. The important issue is paying double or triple for the same product. The objective delivers what it promises, by the way. On Instagram you don’t sell a product, you sell a narrative. Instagram is, by far, one of the best showcases for selling cheap products with high margins. Profiles dressed in aspirations desired by users, collaborations with influencers. The algorithm is also your best accomplice by surgically adjusting the ads. Photography, motor, cooking, technology. Each and every potential storefront has a huge marketplace of easy-to-wrap products on Alibaba. Instagram is no longer a social network. It is a marketplace with a social network aesthetic. A perfect platform for high-margin dropshipping, disguised as a brand with values ​​aligned with your target. Image | Xataka In Xataka | If you buy on a website, it’s most likely Shopify: how three friends devoured the ecommerce industry

That Instagram and Facebook are plagued by fraudulent ads is bad. That Meta is making money with them is even worse

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Congratulations! You have won an iPhone. the king Felipe VI announcing investments. Work at Primor and get paid up to 160 euros per hour. These are just three examples of fraudulent ads that have appeared on Facebook and Instagram, but there are many more. So many, that Meta is making money with them. What has happened? An investigation of Reuters has revealed that Meta estimated that 10% of all revenue volume would come from fraudulent ads, which would total $16 billion. In an internal document from December 2024, Meta estimated that its platform serves about 15 billion “high-risk” scam ads every day. By “high risk” they mean those that are clearly frauds, like those we mentioned in the introduction, so the real number would be even higher. It seems like fraud, because we charge you more. Meta has automated systems to detect these types of ads, the problem is that the policy to block them is quite lax. The documents reveal that ads are only blocked if the system identifies it as a scam with 95% certainty. If the percentage is lower, what they do is raise the advertiser’s fee to supposedly discourage them. That is, if they continue to advertise, Meta makes even more money from frauds. The favorite site of scammers. There is more. In another document, Meta admits that “It is easier to advertise scams on Meta platforms than on Google.” The information comes from channels in which scammers discuss their methods, although they do not specify the reasons for their choice. They also estimate that a third of all successful scams in the United States occur through their platforms. Regulation. Meta is in the crosshairs of regulators around the world. The European Commission initiated action against the company for the use of data to serve advertising to users. In United Kingdom took them to trial for the same reason and more recently the United States Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating them for the financial frauds advertised on their platform. In documents published by Reuters, Meta shows its intention to reduce illegal ads, but is concerned that a sudden reduction would negatively affect its revenue. Don’t touch my publi. Meta is in a delicate moment for the huge increase in spending on AI which, despite having achieved positive results in the last quarter, has caused its shares to fall 8%. Considering that targeted advertising is Meta’s main revenue stream, a reduction on this front could shake the entire house of cards. Meta responds. Speaking to Reuters, a Meta spokesperson criticized the news, saying the documents “present a selective view that distorts Meta’s approach to fraud and scams.” He says the estimate of 10% profit from scam ads was excessive and the actual figure was much lower, although he declined to give an updated figure. According to Meta, in the last year and a half, fraudulent ad notices have been reduced by 58% and in 2025 they will have eliminated more than 134 million scams from their platform. Image | Generated with AI. background Pixabay In Xataka | The majority of medical discharges that are investigated are fraud. The nuance is that they are only investigated if there are signs of fraud

is preparing it to appear on your Instagram and Facebook feeds

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Do you remember the metaverse? The technological news orbits around the artificial intelligencethe AI agents and all its implications, but not so long ago, the buzzwords were ‘metaverse’ and ‘NFTs‘. The seconds were fleeting and they hit an anthological ‘chestnut’but something different happened with the metaverse: it deflatedbut it didn’t go away completely. Meta is one of the companies that invested the most in the metaverse, to the point that until four years ago they were known as ‘Facebook‘ and changed to ‘Meta’ after the company’s new focus. His boss, Mark Zuckerberg, dedicated himself to the metaverse and its benefits and, although now he is more focused on the artificial intelligence models and in which all let’s wear glasses with a camera and connection to their serversit seems that he has not forgotten that parallel virtual life. That platform is ‘Horizon Worlds‘ and, although not even Meta employees they used itthe company is creating a new push to Your multimillion-dollar investment comes together at once for everyone in the real world. As? Taking the metaverse everywhere. Meta returns to the fray with the metaverse Before telling the new adventure that Meta has in mind, some context is necessary, and we have to go back to 2019. That’s when Facebook premiered ‘Horizon‘, an open world game that wanted to become something more: a new ‘Second Life‘. The idea was that users They will spend their free time doing activities in that virtual worldbut no one called it ‘metaverse’. Two years later the word arrived. Zuckerberg’s company started betting on a virtual world in which, thanks to virtual reality glasses (your Oculus), we could dive in for a second life. In the midst of the COVID pandemic, there were companies that opted for that “metaverse”, with many quotes, to hold meetings and events in which we were present through our avatars. Mesh for Microsoft Teams The bet was of such magnitude that Facebook changed its name to Meta and announced ‘Horizon Worlds’, that virtual world. However, after a multi-million dollar investmentthe promised metaverse was nothing more than a crappy version of ‘Wii Sports’. The years have passed and we still don’t have that second virtual life, but the company still believes in the metaverse. And its new strategy will be to take it beyond virtual reality. The Oculus Quest seemed like the ideal gadget for the metaverse by offering almost total immersion, but there is a problem: device adoption. Not everyone wants invest money in a VR headset nor does he want to isolate himself from the outside, but what everyone does have is a smartphone. And it is very possible that they also have instagram or Facebook. The ‘Horizon Worlds’ games are built with the Unity engine. It is a great engine that has been used to countless independent video gamesbut in The VergeVishal Shah, deputy director of metaverse at Meta, says he has a problem: “it was the right place to start, but we needed to build something tailored to our needs.” Shah comments that, like great social games like ‘Roblox‘ either ‘minecraft‘are developed with their own engines or deeply modified versions of other engines, they needed tools like that. Meta Horizon Engine is the answer, an engine that the company has designed to speed up game development for its platform, allow the creation of multiplayer worlds with ease, speed up loading times and, above all, integrate artificial intelligence to give a boost to development times. That detail of loading times is crucial for the company. “You feel like something takes a long time to load if you have to wait more than 15 seconds. Below 15, it feels fast, but the magic number is seven seconds or less,” says Shah. Meta has built an engine as an umbrella for all its ‘Horizon Worlds’ games and systems, and it is what will allow you to take it everywhere This engine optimization allows us to click on a game and, almost instantly, we’re playingfreeing us from the entry wall that for many players can mean waiting those 15 or 20 seconds of loading. It seems like a short time, but for TikTok generationit can be a lot. But optimization is just one leg of Meta’s new approach to the metaverse. The other is to bring the experience where the potential players are (and we already told you that, right now, at least, they are not in the virtual reality glasses). Therefore, Shah comments that they are starting to add ‘Horizon’ games on other platforms, such as Facebook. “If you go to the games tab on Facebook, you can find ‘Horizon’ experiences,” he says. In addition, he states that the company is also studying how to integrate these games into Instagram. Until now, these were the ways to access the metaverse. Instagram and Facebook will soon join Scaling to these platforms is something that would have been much more complex with engines like Unity, but with the new Meta Horizon Engine, it is much easier to develop for your other applications, creating an ecosystem that, now, can be the gateway to ‘Horizon Central’, the social plaza where the Meta metaverse adventure begins. (This is all a bit confusing, but it’s just that Meta has a gigantic mess with names). Shah says the new tools They will be implemented little by little in all corners of ‘Horizon Worlds’arriving first at the square, but gradually also at other sections such as ‘Horizon Arena‘, which is Meta’s concert and event space in virtual reality. Now, what about the true metaverse? If the idea was for us to live a virtual world, the ideal is to do it with a VR viewer and with gesture control elements like the new ones launched by the companybut that doesn’t go hand in hand with playing a Facebook game. Shah mentions in The Verge that logic tells them that “once users discover Horizon games on mobile devices, they are more likely to try them in virtual reality.” It’s … Read more

Many are still convinced that Instagram listens to the microphone. The app of the app has wanted to set the subject

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In a meeting between friends you talk about making a weekend getaway, rural houses and whether it is worth renting a car. Hours later, when Instagram opens, ads appear for travel agencies, car rental portals and route recommendations. The feeling that The mobile “hears us” It is installed easily. In this context, Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, published a video to disassemble that myth and explain why we see ads that seem to guess our conversations. Meta has almost a decade denying sharply that their applications access the microphone without permission, but doubts never disappear at all. Now the discussion returns to the front line because The company has announced thatas of December, conversations with their artificial intelligence assistant will also be part of the customization of ads and recommendations (this change will not apply, at least for now, in the European Union). The denial and this novelty have communicated almost at the same time, which adds a striking nuance to the message. Mosseri says they don’t listen to us, while finishing another key novelty The closeness between both communications did not go unnoticed. Instagram head chosen a personal tone, even light, but at the same time he wanted cut the suspicion that the application listens to its users. He presented that statement as a starting point on which to build his explanation. His words were clear and it is worth reproducing them in full: “We do not listen to you. We do not use the microphone of the phone to spy on. If we did, it would be a serious violation of privacy. In addition, we would exhaust the battery of the device and noticed it, and you would even see a small light in the upper part of the screen that would tell you that the microphone is on.” For Mosseri, what seems to really be the effect of four quite common situations. One possibility is that before talking about a topic and lor we have sought without remembering it. Another is that someone in our environment has done it and the platform takes it as a indication. It can also happen that the announcement has appeared before and we did not pay attention, but that it later sneaks into the conversation. And the simplest explanation of all remains: it is a mere coincidence. “I want to reiterate that we do not listen to your microphone. I know that some of you are not going to believe me no matter how much I try to explain, but I wanted to make things clear. I am sure that the comments in this publication will be a bit intense. We see you soon. Paz.” It was not the first time that the company was trying to settle the suspicion. In 2016, Facebook said that did not use the phone’s microphone to guide ads or to change what appears in the Feed. Two years later, in an appearance before the United States Senate, Mark Zuckerberg was asked directly on the subject and rSponge With a “no” just as sharp. Years later, Meta support website itself included A document on the same line. Click to watch the video on Instagram Doubts about possible listening also led the academic community to test it. In 2017, a group of researchers from Northeastern University analyzed more than 17,000 Android applications, including those of Facebook, to check if they activated the microphone without the user knowing. After months of evidence, They found no evidence What happened. They did observe other data collection behaviors, but do not listen undercover. The authors themselves clarified, yes, that there were scenarios that were left out of their study. Beyond the studies, there is a technical aspect that should be remembered. In current mobiles, both in iOS and Android, any application that wants to use the microphone You need explicit user permission. In addition, when an actor appears active on the screen (a color point or a warning in the upper bar) that immediately points it. These notices, together with the extra battery consumption that would involve permanent listening, make it difficult to hide an undercover use of the microphone without the user noticed. The persistence of this myth is better understood if the context is observed. The directed advertising is so precise and so difficult to decipher for the average user that it is easier to attribute it to a microphone on than to an invisible data network. Our memory also influences. To this is added the history of mattress controversies in privacy. Images | Brett Jordan | Xataka with Gemini 2.5 | Screen capture In Xataka | I’ve been hooked to Sora 2 for two days: I’m generating absurd memes where I am the protagonist and I can’t stop

15 years later, Instagram arrives at the iPad. He does it with news that make differences to the mobile version

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Instagram and the iPhone have always gone hand in hand. The first version of the social network landed on Apple’s mobile In October 2010marking the beginning of a relationship that soon became iconic. Android users, meanwhile, They had to wait until April 2012 To be able to join the experience. The iPad, on the other hand, was out of the equation from the beginning. When Instagram reached the market, Apple’s tablet had already been available for half a yearbut never received an application designed for its screen. They have spent almost 15 years without that changing. Until now: This Wednesday the company has finally taken the step. The official Instagram application for iPad is now available Instagram has finally premiered an app designed for iPad, something that many users had time to ask. It is not a simple adaptation: the interface has been rethink for Take advantage of the big screenimproving access to messages and notifications, which can now be seen simultaneously. Even when reproducing Reels Comments can be expanded while watching the video full screen. The change is noticed as soon as the app. Stories are still visible at the top, reels can be seen in a big way and the tab Following It is divided into three views to better organize content: All: recommended publications and reels of all accounts in a row Friends: Accounts that follow the user and those that this also follows The latest: Chronologically ordered publications, prioritizing the most recent The messages also gain prominence: you can consult the entrance tray while a conversation is followed, and the system to read comments in Reels allows you not to lose detail of the video. Instagram has adapted its app to the most advanced functions of iPados. There is support for multitasking and floating windows in Ipados 26 (Available in Beta and that should arrive generally next week), full screen mode both vertically and horizontally and keyboard, trackpad and Apple Pencil compatibility. The application is now available in the App Store for any iPad with ipados 15.1 or higher. If you had the iPhone version installed, just update it: A second app will not appearbut the existing will automatically adopt this new specific design for tablets. Adam Mosseri, head of Instagram, He had admitted That the number of users interested in an app for iPad was never large enough to justify development. That excuse is already part of the past: Instagram finally has an official presence on Apple’s big screens. Images | Goal/Apple | Xataka screen capture In Xataka | Send files among all my devices was a roll. Then I found this free application, Open Source and Multiplatform

How to share on Instagram what you are listening to Spotify in real time and at all times

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Let’s explain How to share on Instagram what you are listening to in Spotify At all times, and always in real time. It is a new option that has implemented the application of musical streaming, and that makes use of the Instagram notes system. The idea is that when you enter the Instagram messaging section and above all in the row of notes you can see what others are listening, and that they can see what you listen. This is a function that begins to arrive now, that is, it is recommended have updated apps to its latest version. What you listen to in Spotify, on your Instagram To be able to share what you are listening, you just have to Create a new note on Instagram. You can do this directly from your user profile, but you can also do it by going to the private messages section, and starting a new note. When you are going to create a note, you have several options. Above all you can simply write a text, and below you can choose interactive notes. Here, click on the icon of the musical note To share a note related to music. This will take you to a screen where you can choose a song that you want to share. In it, you have to click on the option of Share from Spotify That will appear above all. You will need to have Spotify installed and the session initiated. Once you choose this option you don’t have to do more. You will go to the final preview, where you will see what you are listening to right now with the icon of headphones. Here, click on the button Share To send this note. And that’s it. With this, you will create a note in which What you are listening will always appear At all times, until the body expires at 24 hours. Good option to listen to a little more social music. And when someone clicks on your note, you can listen to a fragment and you will have the option to listen to that song in your spotify. In Xataka Basics | 14 apps and services to discover new music in Spotify, Apple Music and other streaming services

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