In this week’s Roundup: Instagram gets sued, social media at the Supreme Court and an AI to harsh your vibe.
News
TikTok has been joined in the dock this week by Instagram, writes Natalie Sherman & James Clayton for the BBC.
42 US states have filed suit against Meta, alleging that the company uses addictive technology to hook younger users, breaking consumer protection laws. In outline, these are similar accusations to those being leveled at TikTok by the state of Utah.
On the bright side, Reuters reports Meta’s reported revenue has exceeded estimates. That was down to both higher digital ad spend as well as lower operating costs. Ad spending, in particular, has been up across the board, with many companies looking to increase visibility over the holiday period.
Katie Paul and Yuvraj Malik’s article also notes that in 2024 the company will continue to invest heavily in AI. Already, their investments are apparently paying off. Meta believe they are further along in countering the effects of Apple’s privacy settings, which dented the ad market.
Analysis

OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, is a busy man. After the success of ChatGPT, he’s now trained his sights on what he calls “superalignment” – which means making sure that the AI does only what you want it to do.
In this article by Will Douglas Heaven from the MIT Technology Review, Sutskever outlines the evolution of deep learning and how humans might relate to the technology in the future.
Five court cases due to be decided by the US Supreme Court could shape the future of social media.
Each case touches on different intersections of social media and First Amendment rights. This report by Vox’s Ian Millhiser, lays out what the cases are and what they might mean for how we understand what content is and isn’t allowed on social media.
AI
If you’re selling something online, having an attractive image of your product is a good thing. But the cost of producing these images can be prohibitive for smaller businesses.
Step forward AI.
Amazon is beta testing a feature to let sellers create “lifestyle pictures” for their products using image generation. According to Amazon, these lifestyle pictures can lead to a 40% increase in CTR.
AI has many uses, but party pooper is a new one to us.
The Beastie Boys may have fought for your right to party, but AI is leading the counter revolution. The BBC’s David Silverberg reports that AirBnB is beginning to use AI to detect when it’s likely that a booking has been made solely for the purpose of partying.
Booking for one night only is apparently a telltale sign. So is booking a place in the same city you live in. So is being under 25.