Facebook | The Verge The Verge is about technology and how it makes us feel. Founded in 2011, we offer our audience everything from breaking news to reviews to award-winning features and investigations, on our site, in video, and in podcasts. 2026-08-10T17:18:44+00:00 https://www.theverge.com/rss/facebook/index.xml https://platform.theverge.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2025/01/verge-rss-large_80b47e.png?w=150&h=150&crop=1 Terrence O’Brien <![CDATA[Zuck’s yacht could have helped a vessel in need but didn’t]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=977161 2026-08-10T13:18:44-04:00 2026-08-09T13:20:30-04:00 RAIATEA, FRENCH POLYNESIA - DECEMBER 19: Chief executive officer of Meta Platforms Inc. Mark Zuckerberg's yacht "The Launchpad" is seen on December 19, 2024 in Raiatea, French Polynesia. (Photo by Sylvain Lefevre/Getty Images)
Mark Zuckerberg's yacht "The Launchpad." | Image: Sylvain Lefevre / Getty Images

Earlier this week, the Alaskan cruise ship Wilderness Legacy rescued a small skiff stranded near Farragut Bay after running out of fuel. But, according to tracking data reviewed by the Alaska Beacon and Halifax Shipping News, the closest vessel was actually Mark Zuckerberg's super yacht, Launchpad.

Michael Love, a passenger on the Wilderness Legacy, posted on Bluesky that the captain announced the Launchpad was closer, but "repeatedly refused to respond," which was met with booing from the passengers. The AIS tracking (embedded below) seems to support that the Launchpad was closer to the vessel in trouble, but then stopped near the entrance …

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]]> David Pierce <![CDATA[The vertical video takeover is here]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=970756 2026-07-24T13:29:13-04:00 2026-07-26T08:00:00-04:00

This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on all things vertical video, follow David Pierce. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers' inboxes on Sunday at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here.

How it started

For a while, every social and media platform had its own identity. YouTube was for clips of TV shows and movies, and the home of so many members of a burgeoning creator community. Instagram was mostly pictures. Netflix was trying to be the on-demand HBO. Facebook was about friends. Twitter was about news. Snapchat was a messaging app.

All these apps did have one important …

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]]> Jess Weatherbed <![CDATA[Facebook considers giving up and becoming TikTok]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=970504 2026-07-24T07:07:17-04:00 2026-07-24T07:00:00-04:00 An illustration showing the Facebook logo on a blue background

Facebook is planning some big changes to try and keep its users from jumping to rival social platforms like TikTok - changes that sound dubiously similar to becoming a TikTok clone. Facebook head Tom Alison announced today that the platform will begin testing a "reimagined experience" later this year that will put a subset of users into a "full-screen video the moment they open the app."

Meta didn't share examples of what its experimental new interface will look like, only that it will initially roll out to countries with a noted preference for video content, with a potential expansion planned for the US next year. These tests are driven by …

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]]> Dominic Preston <![CDATA[Instagram and Facebook will likely require a redesign after EU rules they’re ‘addictive’]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=963872 2026-07-10T07:49:56-04:00 2026-07-10T06:52:53-04:00 Vector illustration of the Meta logo.

Meta is in breach of the EU's Digital Services Act (DSA), a preliminary investigation has found, over the "addictive" design of Instagram and Facebook. It's likely to be forced to redesign both apps and could face a fine of up to $12 billion.

The European Commission said Meta "did not adequately assess the risks of its addictive design on the physical and mental wellbeing of users, including minors and vulnerable adults." It singled out features like personalized recommendations, autoplay, and infinite scroll, arguing that they "fuel the user's urge to keep scrolling and shift the brain into 'autopilot mode.'"

The report also criticizes th …

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]]> Jess Weatherbed <![CDATA[Facebook’s Creator Studio has been revived as an AI companion app]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=956668 2026-06-25T05:37:40-04:00 2026-06-25T05:06:19-04:00 Meta’s new Creator Studio app for Facebook creators.
This is what the new Creator Studio app looks like, after the original service was shuttered in 2023. | Image: Meta

Meta is bringing back the Facebook Creator Studio page manager, now "reimagined" as a standalone AI companion app. The new app aims to make it easier for creators to connect with their audiences and show them "exactly how to grow on Facebook," according to Meta's announcement.

Meta's AI Creator Assistant is a central focus of the newly reimagined app - users can ask the chatbot to provide performance tracking insights and tailored recommendations for improving engagement. It can also be used to find "the most important comments" left by the user's audience and "instantly draft replies in your voice."

Examples of AI-powered commenting features inside the reimagined Facebook Creator Studio.

The Creator Studio app isn't widely ava …

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]]> Stevie Bonifield <![CDATA[Facebook’s new AI Mode search gets its info from public posts]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=950264 2026-06-15T17:15:08-04:00 2026-06-15T17:15:08-04:00 A screenshot of AI-generated search results in Meta’s AI Mode on Facebook

Your public Facebook posts could help inform AI-generated results in Meta's new AI Mode. When you search on Facebook, the "AI Mode" option will appear alongside the usual search modes like "People" and "Marketplace." It's one of several new AI features Meta is rolling out starting today, including photo presets that swap sports jerseys onto fans and suggestions for collage templates.

A screenshot of AI-generated search results in Meta's AI Mode on Facebook

Instead of "just links," it gives users AI-generated results that pull from publicly-posted content across Meta's platforms, like the AI search feature in its new Reddit-like Forum app. Users can also ask Meta's AI follow-up questions in response to the search …

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]]> Andrew Liszewski <![CDATA[The Social Reckoning trailer gives us our first look at Jeremy Strong as Zuck]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=947682 2026-06-10T10:07:01-04:00 2026-06-10T10:02:44-04:00 Actor Jeremy Strong as Muck Zuckerberg in The Social Reckoning.

Over 15 years after David Fincher and Aaron Sorkin's The Social Network premiered in theaters, Sony has released the first trailer for The Social Reckoning ahead of its theatrical release on October 9th. The follow-up takes place 17 years after the events portrayed in the original film and follows a young Facebook engineer who enlists the help of a Wall Street Journal reporter to expose the platform's secrets.

The film stars Jeremy Strong as a much older Mark Zuckerberg (doing a memorable impression of the Meta CEO's voice), Mikey Madison as Facebook engineer and whistleblower Frances Haugen, and Jeremy Allen White as WSJ reporter Jeff Horw …

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]]> Emma Roth <![CDATA[Meta will use your activity on other websites to personalize your feeds]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=946744 2026-06-09T10:06:52-04:00 2026-06-09T11:00:00-04:00

Meta is planning to use the data shared by other businesses to personalize your feed and its AI responses. In a blog post on Tuesday, Meta explains that it already uses your off-platform activity, like the games you play or your purchases on other websites, to serve you ads. But now it's expanding the scope of the content it personalizes across Facebook and Instagram.

For example, Meta says if you bought a tent online recently, you might see camping-related videos in your Reels feed. "We aren't collecting any new data as part of this update," the blog post says. "This is about using information that businesses already send to us to further …

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]]> Jay Peters <![CDATA[Facebook launches a ‘Plus’ subscription that gives you extra features]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=938500 2026-05-27T16:03:42-04:00 2026-05-27T16:03:42-04:00 The Facebook logo on a blue background surrounded by blue circles.

After announcing tests of premium subscriptions for Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp earlier this year, TechCrunch and Bloomberg report that Meta is launching a global rollout over the next few weeks and is also starting to test subscriptions for Meta AI. With the new offerings, Meta joins many other tech companies in changing up its subscription plans to bring in new revenues following substantial AI investments - Google, for example, recently lowered the price of its most expensive subscription and threw in YouTube Premium.

Instagram Plus and Facebook Plus will cost $3.99 per month, while WhatsApp Plus will cost $2.99 per month. Instagram Pl …

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]]> Stevie Bonifield <![CDATA[Meta’s Forum is part Reddit, part Facebook, and part Google AI Overview]]> https://www.theverge.com/?p=936290 2026-05-22T13:43:00-04:00 2026-05-22T13:27:08-04:00 Three screenshots of Meta’s Forum app

Meta's new Forum app for iPhones takes Facebook Groups and moves them to a dedicated app with a dedicated AI chatbot to go with it, like an AI revamp of the ill-fated Groups app Facebook shut down in 2017.

Rather than going to ChatGPT or tacking "Reddit" onto the end of a Google search, Forum users can view, search for, and post advice directly in their Facebook groups, with optional help from Meta's AI.

Screenshot of Meta's Forum app showing several Facebook groups

After logging in with my Facebook account, Forum automatically pulled in the groups I was part of on Facebook and populated my feed with posts from those groups, along with suggestions from groups I'm not part of, similar to my Reddit fe …

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