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Late last month, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) gave messaging platforms like WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal, and Snapchat 90 days to enforce 'SIM-binding'. With 'SIM-binding' in force, these apps will stop working if users remove SIM card originally used for registration. The directive, that will go into effect starting effective February 2026, also mandates that web versions of these apps log out users every six hours, requiring fresh authentication via QR code. India's biggest telecom body, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) -- whose members include Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- welcomed the new DoT guidelines and congratulated the government on the same. COAI said that making SIM binding mandatory would keep a reliable link between the user, the number, and the device, which could help reduce spam, fraud calls, and financial scams. However, Broadband India Forum or BIF, which represents major technology companies such as WhatsApp parent Meta, Google and others, has termed 'SIM-binding' guidelines as "problematic". BIF along with Internet and Mobile Association of India, representing Meta and other digital companies have claimed that no feasibility study or consultation was conducted before these directions were issued. Critics question whether 'SIM-binding' will effectively curb fraud, since many scammers

Ready to turn Snapchat into your app’s powerful growth engine? Toni van Zütphen, Client Partner at Snapchat, reveals the performance-driven ad solutions required to transition from simple installs to profitable, long-term user engagement. Learn how to maximize efficiency using advanced bidding and optimization tools, while leveraging privacy-first measurement to unlock deeper app signal insights. She highlights the performance impact of innovative formats like Playables and Sponsored Snaps, sharing practical success stories across various verticals. Watch this to equip yourself with the strategies needed to scale your app profitably on Snapchat.

In this photo illustration, iPhone screens display various social media apps on the screens on February 9, 2025 in Bath, England. Anna Barclay | Getty Images News | Getty Images Australia on Wednesday became the first country to formally bar users under the age of 16 from accessing major social media platforms, a move expected to be closely monitored by global tech companies and policymakers around the world. Canberra's ban, which came into effect from midnight local time, targets 10 major services, including Alphabet 's YouTube, Meta' s Instagram, ByteDance's TikTok, Reddit , Snapchat and Elon Musk's X. The controversial rule requires these platforms to take "reasonable steps" to prevent underage access, using age-verification methods such as inference from online activity, facial estimation via selfies, uploaded IDs, or linked bank details. All targeted platforms had agreed to comply with the policy to some extent. Elon Musk's X had been one of the last holdouts, but signaled on Wednesday that it would comply.  The policy means millions of Australian children are expected to have lost access to their social accounts.  However, the impact of the policy could be even wider, as it will set a benchmark for other governments considering teen

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Image Credits: Kelly Sikkema, Unsplash My freshman year, I checked my ex’s Snapchat score and Instagram following more than I checked D2L. The deeper the hole I went down, the tighter my chest got. That’s when I realized social media wasn’t just showing me my ex’s life; it was keeping me from living my own. I finally realized the problem wasn’t that he was at another girl’s apartment, but that I kept holding on to a digital version of him that wouldn’t let me move on. West Chester University students cannot fully heal from heartbreak if they stay digitally tied to their exes. According to the CDC, 40% of students report persistent sadness after breakups (especially when they stay tied digitally). Intentionally disengaging is the only way forward.  At a mid-sized school like West Chester, escaping the guy you’re hung up on feels almost impossible. It feels like everywhere you are, they’re there too. You see him everywhere — in Commons Dining Hall, in the Student Recreation Center, on your way to class in Main Hall and even in your own dorm (if he happens to live there). With social media, it is easy to see where others are at

Credit: Left - Hulu/Disney. Right - Netflix You wouldn’t think Kim K had a part to play in Owning Manhattan star Jessica’s first big girl job! Well, after Jessica left college, and years before she started selling multi-million dollar homes under Ryan Serhant‘s real estate firm, she was head of communications elsewhere. Basically, Jessica was in charge of Screenshop, an app that Kim co-founded and sold to Snapchat in April 2021. The app allowed users to identify and shop for items seen in photos, by leveraging artificial intelligence to match clothing and accessories to a database of products. You could shop screenshots of fashion products directly from your Snapchat memories and luckily, Kim had Jessica on hand to help make that happen. Through her work on this major project, Jessica built up a huge social media following online. She was voted social influencer of the year, so it’s clearly been paying off! She told Loammi: “Right out of college, my first job was Head of Communications for Screenshop, a company founded by Kim Kardashian. My role consisted of working with content creators.” They worked on the project by asking them to Beta test the product and insure a successful product

Chronicle Live Icon News North East News Northumbria Police PC Jamie Peacock tried to get time off work he was no entitled to, failed to inform his supervisor of his absence and then tried to cover his tracks A former police officer has been found guilty of gross misconduct after he failed to report for duty then lied to cover his tracks. PC Jamie Peacock, who worked for Northumbria Police, was found to have tried to get time off work, which he knew he was not entitled to, failed to inform his supervisor of his absence then repeatedly lied and falsified evidence. A report from an accelerated misconduct hearing stated that the officer had lied about the timing of his return to the police station, attempted to call the staff office and lied to two different sergeants on three different dates about calling a wrong number. He also faked a screenshot to support his account that he had called the wrong number and lied to an Inspector about deleting call logs to support his account that he had called the wrong number. The report stated that the constable admitted the allegations against him and acknowledged that his behaviour amounted to

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Television December 05, 2025 “Extra” has an exclusive sneak peek from the premiere episode of an all-new season of “90 Day Fiancé: Before the 90 Days”! In the clip, we meet Laura, a 47-year-old from Washington, who is going to Turkey to meet her 26-year-old boyfriend Birkan after connecting through Snapchat. She shared, “About six months ago, I decided to download Snapchat because I really wanted some cute Christmas filters for Christmas photos. And me being just dumb with technology, did not realize that Snapchat was a way to, like, meet new people to chat with. I had no idea there was, like, a ‘Find your Friend’ feature, so that piqued my interest more than the actual filters. I never actually got a Christmas filter. Instead, I got a lot of guys in my DMs.” Birkan was the one she was “most interested” in, saying, “Birkan has this amazing bad boy aesthetic… He’s tall. He’s got dark hair. He’s got a smoking-hot tattoo and he is absolutely like the hot male main character straight off the pages of a romance novel.” Tune in Sunday, December 7, at 8 p.m. ET/PT on TLC.