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Welcome OG Geekout friends… And the hundreds of new readers joining us for the first time. | There is LOT going on this week in social media land… | …Elon' Musk's xAI chatbot ranted white genocide
…Meta wants judge to throw out FTC's case early
…TikTok is facing a multi-billion euro fine
…And HBO's SMM is living their best life. | All that and more in a moment. | But first… These two are worth a click: | | __________ | Prompts, Procrastination & AI-Powered Meltdowns 🤯🤖
- | | I've been leaning hard on ChatGPT lately — partly to help me build a better newsletter.
And partly to do the things my ADHD brain point-blank refuses to engage with. | It's helped me psychoanalyse myself, draft outrageously passive-aggressive complaint emails.
And take Googling minor health symptoms to a whole new "you're definitely dying" level.
Oh — and it's weirdly good at untangling my messiest ideas into actual usable content. |  | Watch now on TikTok | @thejcharm | Aye mind how you talk to Ai you know 😩😩 #funny #chatgpt #lol IB @loicthehuman |
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| But as always, the magic's in the prompts. | Got any you swear by as a social media manager? | Prompts that help with planning, content writing, client comms, reporting. Or just stopping you from falling into a doomscrolling spiral..? | And maybe you've found some unhinged but brilliant prompts for personal stuff as well…?
…Trip planning, personal development, life admin, or something wilder? | Hit reply and send me your best AI prompts — I'll share the best ones in Geekout in the coming weeks. |
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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5 | Geekout's pick of the hottest headlines in social this week: |
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 | Elon Musk's AI Grok bot rants about 'white genocide' in South Africa in unrelated chats | X chatbot tells users it was 'instructed by my creators' to accept 'white genocide as real and racially motivated' |
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Meta asks judge to throw out antitrust case mid-trial [FIGHTING] TikTok faces multibillion-euro fine over missing ad disclosures [FINING] Instagram and Facebook blocked and hid abortion pill providers' posts [PANDERING] Elon Musk's X still accepting payment from terrorist orgs for blue check verification [VIOLATING]
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🚨 EVERYONE'S TALKING ABOUT… | Grok turns into a conspiracy theorist |
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 | Musk's xAI says unauthorized modification made Grok talk about 'white genocide' |
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X's Grok AI chatbot surprised users this week by developing an obsession with the 'South African white genocide' conspiracy theory that has been spreading around American right wing media lately. | Ask it about anything, and there was a chance it would change the subject to the supposed oppression of white farmers. | So what was going on? An obvious assumption was that Musk, a right-wing white South African, had been trying to subtly nudge conversations about the topic to support the supposedly oppressed people. Only, the subtlety had been messed up with hilarious results. | But that's not the case, according to Musk's xAI, which develops Grok. They say it was sabotage: | "On May 14 at approximately 3:15 AM PST, an unauthorized modification was made to the Grok response bot's prompt on X… "This change, which directed Grok to provide a specific response on a political topic, violated xAI's internal policies and core values. We have conducted a thorough investigation and are implementing measures to enhance Grok's transparency and reliability." | | | | – xAI statement |
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| But whether the change was unauthorised or not, the episode highlights a serious issue with the growing inclusion of AI chatbots and other AI features in social media apps. As hamfisted as this example was, it shows how AI can be used to manipulate discussion around a particular topic. | For years, politicians and commentators have fretted about the power of algorithms in social apps. But what about algorithms PLUS AI? Bias in training data is one well-discussed threat from AI. But deliberately skewing how AI reacts to certain situations, with the intention of misleading people or nudging them in a certain direction, could be very difficult to prove if done effectively. | This isn't just an Elon Musk problem. We should look out for it from all big 'social+AI' companies, like Meta, ByteDance, and Google. | But given Elon Musk's history of getting involved directly with politics he cares about, it's no surprise that people suspected Grok had been deliberately been given an obsession with 'white genocide'. |
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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY | Everything else you need to know from the past seven days… |
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Meta / Facebook 👥 |  | Image: Meta |
| Meta is delaying the rollout of its flagship 'Behemoth' AI model …while Meta's Llama 4 models are failing to wow developers, with slower innovation and no standout reasoning model Meta's AI training plans face a legal challenge over EU user data News publishers have seen a surge of Facebook engagement from photo posts A US Senator is probing Meta's handling of misconduct claims against exec Joel Kaplan Meta is reportedly battling an 'Epidemic of Scams' as criminals flood Instagram and Facebook Facebook Stories now offers a photo collage feature Facebook now lets you import profile information from your Instagram account during the creation process
| __________ |
Instagram ✨
|  | Instagram's new Beat Sync / Marker feature for its Edits app | Image: Meta |
| | __________ |
Threads 🧵 / WhatsApp 💬
|  | Threads new multiple links in bio feature | Image: Meta |
| | __________ |
Twitter ('X') 🤡
|  | X's updated link preview ad design | Image: X |
| X updated link previews and added CTAs for sales objective ads X started asking users if search results are relevant to their query X now supports 4K video uploads for all Premium subscribers and says improved livestreaming is coming soon
| __________ |
YouTube 📺
|  | YouTube's new Weekly Top Podcast Chart (U.S) | Image: Lindsey Gamble |
| | __________ |
TikTok 📱
|  | TikTok's new guided meditation prompts for teens : Image: TikTok |
| | __________ |
Snapchat / Pinterest / Telegram / More… 👻
|  | Image: Snap |
| Snapchat launched a new 'Under the Ghost' music series offering intimate, behind-the-scenes performances, starting with Kid Cudi Pinterest will pay $34.7m to a woman who claims she helped create it Google is testing a new "Discussions" feature in Search that lets users post comments directly on search topics. Google will unveil a Pinterest-like visual search tool at I/O 2025 next week, offering design ideas for fashion and interiors. Telegram shut down two massive scam marketplaces worth $35 billion that were run through its app Roblox wants to become the new shopping mall for Gen Z by allowing brands and creators to sell in-game merch
| __________ |
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🔥 Want to see more hot NEW features spotted in the wild this week?
Just head to the 'More news' section below! |
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🤖 SOCIAL A.I. | The newest social media A.I. features spotted this week: |
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 | TikTok Adds New Option To Animate Still Images With AI | TikTok's "AI Alive" is the platform's first AI-driven image-to-video creation feature. |
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Also spotted this week 👀 | YouTube unveiled AI plan to insert ads when you're most emotionally vulnerable 😬 Meta's new AI tool can build full 3D scenes for Horizon Worlds from a text prompt Meta is rolling out Opportunity Score more broadly in Ads Manager, to help improve ad conversion with AI Meta's Ray-Ban glasses now describe surroundings using AI to help visually impaired users Meta's AI app has added a feature called Background Conversations Meta released a new data set and AI model aimed at speeding up scientific research Instagram's Meta AI now allows you to upload, capture, or generate images using the Imagine feature. WhatsApp is working on a feature to privately summarise messages in chats, groups, and channels, WhatsApp is rolling out the ability to create images using Meta AI in chats to more users, along with a new update that allows you to animate them TikTok rolled out new accessibility tools, including AI-generated ALT text and high contrast toggles to boost readability A typo by Elon Musk—"@gork" instead of "@grok"—has become an official Grok voice on X called "Gork," described as a slow-witted, lazy male tone Snapchat added a shortcut camera feature where you can take a photo, send it to My AI and get an answer X has a new UI for Grok xAI is giving Grok a Grok is a Tasks feature
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⚖️ META ON TRIAL | The latest from the FTC v Meta in court. |
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As with last week, I've been keeping my eye on The Verge's blow-by-blow account from the courtroom. |  | FTC v. Meta: The antitrust battle over WhatsApp and Instagram |
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A few key things we learned this week: | TikTok's growth took Meta by surprise during the worst of the Covid pandemic. Meta found users were spending roughly 120 minutes per day on the rival app. Head of Facebook, Tom Alison said just because users say in surveys they want to see more friend content, it doesn't mean that's true. "When people actually got more friend content on Facebook they visited Facebook less," he testified. Meta shows fewer ads to "needy users" whose engagement drops more significantly when they're shown more ads. The FTC says this is a sign of price discrimination. Meta's defence starts on Monday, but the company has already asked the judge to throw out the case based on the prosecution's evidence. Worth a shot, right?
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HBO's social team are having fun announcing a re-re-re-branding of its streaming service as HBO Max. | It stole the thunder of all those looking to make the same joke. |  | Max @StreamOnMax |  |
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V2 approved by legal. | |  | | | 2:48 PM • May 14, 2025 | | | | | | 32K Likes 2.33K Retweets | 393 Replies |
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| | Max @StreamOnMax | |
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Knew he could revive us. | |  | | | 8:54 PM • May 14, 2025 | | | | | | 11K Likes 809 Retweets | 166 Replies |
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| | Max @StreamOnMax | |
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Send thoughts and prayers. | |  | | | 3:07 PM • May 14, 2025 | | | | | | 3.57K Likes 161 Retweets | 81 Replies |
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| …but of course others couldn't resist anyway: |  | agencyprobs143K followers | |
|  | | agencyprobs | | Add a comment... |  |
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Kanye West (a man who needs to disappear from public life for the good of everyone, including himself), has released a pro-Nazi song, literally called 'Heil Hitler'. | ….But while it's been removed from most mainstream platforms, Meta has let it thrive on Instagram 😡 | I won't share it with you because… well, Ye needs no encouragement. But Meta seriously needs to look at its moderation if that can slip through the net… |  | Kanye's Nazi Song Is All Over Instagram | Kanye's Nazi song has been chased off of most mainstream platforms, but it's all over Instagram. |
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Love it or hate it, Nutter Butter's weird approach to social media has made an impact. | This article breaks down the way the brand has boosted purchases of its cookies by 17%… |  | Nutter Butter's 5 Takeaways from 2 Years of Being Weird on Social |
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"SHAME HAS ITS VALUE!" | - Hollywood actor Jamie Lee Curtis after successfully pressuring Meta to remove an AI-generated scam ad depicting her | Also overheard this week: | "We're true believers. Like, we have actual conviction."
– Meta CTO Andrew 'Boz' Bosworth says he and Mark Zuckerberg really believe in potential of AR and VR
"An attempt to use the courthouse to win back the business X lost in the free market when it disrupted its own business and alienated many of its customers"
– Advertisers hit back against Elon Musk's lawsuit over reduced ad revenue
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"From gorilla stage invasions to novelty butter churners, the extravaganza has always been a haven for wackiness. But it's getting less outre by the year … and YouTube and TikTok are to blame. More Papa Pingouin required!" |  | Bye bye banana wolves! Is social media ruining Eurovision? |
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| Also: | |
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In a new podcast interview with Grace Beverly, Instagram overlord Adam Mosseri shared what it's really like running Instagram and Threads, how the algorithm works, why Stories and DMs matter most, and what creators should focus on. | Worth a watch… |  | Adam Mosseri: What The Head of Instagram Really Thinks About Growth Hacks, Algorithms and Creation |
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Threads was this week flooded with spammy 'Friend' posts in the related content feed. |  | Why is Threads recommending these weird spammy posts from people looking for 'friends'? |
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| Also: | Pinterest finally admits recent mass bans were a mistake caused by an 'internal error' Twitch is really lacking when it comes to discovery, prompting creators say promote their streams on TikTok, YouTube, or Discord.
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Meta is recruiting people to record their facial expressions and small talk to help build realistic virtual avatars. | It's for "Project Warhol," which is run by data firm Appen, and pays $50 an hour. |  | Meta wants your smile, squats, and small talk — and it's paying $50 an hour to scan them |
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A true sign of the times… | CreatorCare is a new telehealth service that offers sliding-scale therapy tailored to influencers facing burnout, harassment, and unstable income. |  | Influencer Burnout Is on the Rise. A New Mental Health Service Wants to Help |
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👔 YOU'RE HIRED! | Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week: |
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More top social media jobs spotted this week 💼 | |
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What you need to know about Instagram's new Unlockable Reels feature… |  | Unlockable Reels Are Coming to Instagram: Here's How They Work |
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More pro-tips worth checking out ✨ | |
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$550 BILLION | - The amount of economic activity Meta claims its "personalized ad technologies" were linked to in the US economy. Big number, vague definitions. |
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Even more social stats: 📈 | SCAM CITY: Internal Meta data shows 70% of new advertisers push fraudulent or low-quality goods BIG COMMUNITY: X now has 1 million users contributing to Community Notes PIN UP: Pinterest CEO Bill Ready says top marketers now put up to 10% of their budgets on the platform ACCELERATING: TikTok now drives 9.4% of digital car buyer inquiries, outperforming many traditional digital channels PHOTOS RULE: 85% of top Facebook posts from Fox News and the NYT in early 2025 were photo-based, not video SHORTING UP: YouTube says Shorts now rivals long-form content on ad revenue, with Shorts viewing up 20% YoY, and 70% of YouTube Channels now uploading Shorts
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X brand recognition is finally kicking in as Google searches for 'X login' overtake those for 'Twitter login'… | |
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More charted social insights spotted this week: 👀. | |
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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES |  | Amazon renews MrBeast's 'Beast Games' for 2 more seasons after the $10 million game show smashes records | Amazon Prime Video renews MrBeast's "Beast Games" for two more seasons. The game show broke world records and awarded the winner a $10 million prize. |
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| AI training on pirated content harms creators by diluting royalties and damaging future sales, artists suing the company argue. [Mashable] Meta's $10 billion AI data center may run on gas, sparking a Senate climate probe. [Fast Company] Meta will start selling its Ray-Ban smart glasses in India from next week. [TechCrunch] Video podcasts were the next big pitch at media upfronts. [CNBC] TikTok parent ByteDance expects its revenue to hit $186 billion in 2025, just shy of Meta's forecasted $187 billion. [Bloomberg $$$] TikTok staffers say its US e-commerce business is slumping amid high tariffs. [Business Insider $$$] The BBC plans a push on YouTube and TikTok to combat disinformation. [The Guardian] The Kids Online Safety Act has returned in the US with changes and the support of X and Apple. [The Verge] The new Pope has faced a political firestorm over his old social media posts. [Poynter] Hollywood studios and talent agencies are buying up YouTube talent firms as cable and streaming profits stall. [Bloomberg $$$] A Florida bill requiring encryption backdoors for social media accounts failed to pass into law. [TechCrunch] France and Spain want to impose age limits on social media networks. [Bloomberg $$$] Microsoft is cutting 6,000 jobs—3% of its global workforce—and LinkedIn is affected, although it's unclear how many roles will be cut. [Social Media Today] Discord and Substack say broadcast social is dead, and community is king. [AdWeek $$$]
| New features and updates: | Messenger has introduced a new menu for business chats when you switch to your Page. [@theahmedghanem] TikTok has moved Monezation Center to TikTok Studio. [@oncescuradu] TikTok is now showing a Profile icon in Search, for direct profiles visits queries. [@oncescuradu]
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📰 WEEKEND READS | Geekout's pick of the best longer reads to sink into over the weekend: |
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"These 'elite sales warriors' are blowing up TikTok and LinkedIn. But are they offering good business advice?" |  | Meet the Alpha Male Bros Influencing Your Sales Team |
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More great weekend reads: | |
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The first video edited with a brain-computer interface has been uploaded to YouTube. | This shows the potential of what companies like Neuralink are working on 🤯 |
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 | The first YouTube video edited with a brain-computer interface shows Neuralink's potential |
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And that's your lot, folks. Social media news debriefing. Done. | I'm heading off to get some much needed sleep. | I spent most of the past week sleeping in hospital with my daughter who has been unwell. |  | Image: Giphy |
| Can you do me a small favour? ❤️ | Enjoyed reading Geekout? Know a colleague or friend who'd love it too? | Hit forward on this email OR Share this link in your work Slack channels, on LinkedIn, or wherever your people hang out. | Thanks for your support 🙏 | Goodbye, geeks! | | P.S. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant |
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