Bluesky is the internet’s hottest members-only spot at the moment

Mark Zuckerberg’s Threads app has become the leading Twitter competitor within hours of launching, attracting three times as many users as all other rivals combined. Parent company Meta, which also controls Facebook and Instagram, saw 22 million people sign up to its latest app offering within 12 hours of releasing it on Thursday. The text-based social media app is designed to offer an alternative to Twitter, which has been blighted with issues and controversies since Elon Musk took it over last year. Other Twitter rivals, including Donald Trump’s Truth Social, are yet to reach a critical mass to make them serious contenders in the space. The former US president’s app has around 2 million monthly active users, while Bluesky, Mastodon, Parler and Tribel have an estimated 4.5 million users combined. It took Twitter roughly three years to reach the number of users that Threads achieved in its first day, however Mr Musk’s app still has more than 10-times the number of active users. Thread’s user growth puts it in line to become the fastest growing app of all time, with no other launch seeing as many users sign up in a single day. Early adopters of Threads include singer Jennifer Lopez, NFL star Tom Brady and adventurer Bear Grylls. Despite this success, it remains a long way off the number of Twitter users, which had an estimated 330 million monthly active users in the first half of the year. It is unclear how many of the new Threads users were already Twitter users, and whether they will make the switch permanently if they were regular users of Mr Musk’s platform. Some analysts believe Threads could potentially become the most popular text-based social media app, given that it arrives at a time of growing dissatisfaction with Twitter among some users. “Threads looks set to be the Twitter killer, and comes at the worst possible time for Elon Musk’s doomed social network,” said Drew Benvie, chief executive of consultancy firm Battenhall. “The long anticipated alternative to Twitter will offer Instagram’s two billion users a more reliable and useful way of using social media that Twitter used to do so well. But with Twitter becoming more unreliable, costly and unsafe than ever, I expect users will vote with their fingers.” Read More Threads: What is it, can it rival Twitter and what are the risks? Watch live: Robots take part in UN discussion on AI in healthcare Threads: What it’s like to use Instagram’s new Twitter rival Meta’s new Twitter rival app Threads gets over 10 million sign-ups

SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jun 20, 2023--

By Paul Sandle LONDON (Reuters) -HMD Global, which makes Nokia-branded phones, has become the first major smartphone company to manufacture

A major bank has issued a warning about crypto investment scams, with victims standing to lose more than £10,000 on average and young adults often being particularly at risk. Lloyds Bank has recorded a 23% rise in reports of cryptocurrency investment scams by customers in its banking group (including Lloyds Bank, Halifax and Bank of Scotland) between January and September 2023, compared with the equivalent period last year. Victims are losing £10,741 on average, up from £7,010 last year, the bank said, with many of the scams it analysed originating on social media. The most common age range for crypto scam victims is 25 to 34 years old, Lloyds said. Would-be crypto investors typically make an average of three payments before they realise they have been scammed, taking around 100 days from the date of the first transaction before they report it to their bank, Lloyds added. Crypto is a highly risky asset class and remains largely unregulated, which makes it an attractive area for fraudsters to exploit Liz Ziegler, Lloyds Bank Fraudsters often pose as investment managers, promising that any payments made by the victim will be invested on their behalf, often with the promise of huge returns. Sometimes the victim will be shown a fake investment account, suggesting that the funds are already making a profit, or a small amount of money will be transferred back into their bank account. But often there is no genuine crypto holding and the fraudster will disappear. In some cases, there will be an actual investment account held in the victim’s own name and registered with a legitimate platform. But once funds have been deposited, victims may be tricked into handing over their account login details, or passing control of their digital wallet over to the fraudster. They might also be directed to transfer cryptocurrency from within their own account to another digital wallet, which is under the control of criminals. Liz Ziegler, fraud prevention director at Lloyds Bank, said: “Crypto is a highly risky asset class and remains largely unregulated, which makes it an attractive area for fraudsters to exploit. If something goes wrong, you’re unlikely to get your money back.” Here are Lloyds’ tips for protecting yourself from crypto fraudsters: – Criminals often put adverts for scam crypto investments on social media. They can also send offers by direct message. They will promise returns that you cannot get elsewhere or make claims about “guaranteed” profits. If you are contacted out of the blue about an investment, it is likely a scam. – Fraudsters can easily set up fake companies, social media profiles and websites to clone real firms. Use the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) website to find genuine contact details for a company and check for warnings about fake firms. Always do your own research or seek professional financial advice. – Never share the log in details for your investment account or your private cryptocurrency keys with anyone else. A legitimate firm would never ask you for this. Remember, if you transfer funds to another account that is not in your name, you have lost control of your money. – Fraudsters may ask you to pay an account in a different name to the company you are meant to invest with. If the names do not match, it is a sign of a scam. Paying by card (rather than a bank transfer) may offer you more protection if something goes wrong. Read More Council investigating extent of cyber attack that affected website and systems Setback for Ireland as EU legal adviser recommends revisit of Apple tax case Smartphones ‘may be able to detect how drunk a person is with 98% accuracy’ Ireland and Apple await major development in long-running EU tax dispute Guidance urges parents not to buy smartphones for primary school children William ‘blown away’ by futuristic technology from Singapore start-ups

ST. CATHARINES, Ontario--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sep 14, 2023--

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