What comes to mind when you think of someone getting scammed? A grandma on the phone with some jerk? If so, this will probably surprise you.

The total money lost by teens in online scams grew by nearly 2,500% between 2017 and 2022. Victims under the age of 20 lost a staggering $210 million in 2022 alone.

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Mark Zuckerberg’s favorite word is “public.” In Meta’s recent Q4 earnings call, he said, “On Facebook and Instagram, there are hundreds of billions of publicly shared images and tens of billions of public videos, which we estimate is greater than the Common Crawl dataset and people share large numbers of public text posts in comments across our services as well.”

Here’s what that means. Instead of using the Common Crawl dataset to train Meta’s AI like ChatGPT, it’s using your and my public data. And because it’s public (there’s that word again), they don’t have to get our permission or pay us for it. Nice.

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Social media account hacking is on fire … not in a good way. Account hijacking has grown by as much as 1,000% annually in the last few years, with celebrities and politicians so mad about it they’re starting to sue.

The chances of your Instagram, X, Facebook or other account (even Spotify!) getting taken over by spammy bots and data-stealing thieves have never been higher. So don’t sit there all smug thinking, “Oh Kim, that could never happen to little ol’ me!”

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There’s fake news, and there’s fake celebrity news. Guess which one is spread the most and does the most damage on social media? You’re so smart. Yup, it’s fake celebrity news.

ExpressVPN’s 2023 Misinformation Index includes a whole lineup of our famous friends who got caught up in a mess of misinformation. Let’s dig into some of the wildest, weirdest stories.

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Let me tell you, I’m so over losing all my time getting sucked into watching long TV series. I’m on a movie kick right now, and of course, I really like watching the back story about tech products and the company’s founders. Here are some I thought you might want to watch, too.

“Tetris” (Apple TV+): Yeah, the game where you fit all the blocks into each other. No kidding, the true story behind the game and the company are so much more dramatic than I realized. Think Soviet Union drama in the 1980s. Trailer here.

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I know — it’s a grim topic. But we have to think about what happens to all our online accounts, data, notes, photos, videos, websites, playlists, blogs and subscriptions once we’re gone.

Do your loved ones a favor and get this sorted out beforehand.

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Rumors have been swirling for years that Facebook will start charging. Before, it was fiction. Now? Well, it’s looking more like fact.

You can thank the latest European Union (EU) privacy regulations — and I mean that. These new regulations do a lot to protect the sensitive data of consumers like you and me. 

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With the intense war unfolding in Israel and Gaza, I bet your social media feed is loaded with photos and videos that can be so very difficult to stomach. From heart-wrenching scenes of hostage situations, beheadings, murders, bombings and other grim realities of war, it’s everywhere.

We all want to know what’s going on, no doubt. Many of these social media posts fill the void of official updates and reveal the brutalities of conflict. But — and this is a big BUT — not everything you see online is the real deal. Some content might be doctored or taken out of context and violate those depicted’s privacy and human rights.

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The images, stories and videos of Israel and Gaza are horrifying, aren’t they? You know what that fuels — a slew of misleading info making the rounds on social media. 

Have you seen that viral video showing an Israeli airstrike? It was being shared left and right on social showing Israel’s retaliation against a sudden attack by Hamas from last Saturday. But here’s the catch: That footage is old news from May, confirmed by Reuters.

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Your profile picture is more important than you might think. It’s your chance to put a good first impression out into the world. That’s why you must know how to take the perfect profile picture for all your accounts.

Say you’re applying for a new job. Potential employers will run background checks on your social media presence. You need to have good pictures that show you at your best.

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My artistic skills don’t paint a pretty picture. That’s why I am utterly astounded by AI-generated images. Today’s AI art looks more and more like the real thing, and Meta just unleashed its CM3leon AI art tool. 

Listen, we all know Mark Zuckerberg and his Meta corporation have questionable judgment and sell our data to anyone he can, but they might just be onto something here. Let’s break down the hype. By the end, I promise you’ll understand a lot more about AI art.

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A new scam is surfacing on Facebook and other popular social media sites. This time, thieves target tech fans … and many are falling for it. I’m going to help you dodge that bullet.

Here’s what everyone on social media should know.

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Spoofing social media accounts is one of the most common ways scammers try to trick victims. In this attack, cybercriminals will steal posts and pictures to create fake profiles to fool you. If you don’t know how to spot fake accounts, you could lose a ton of money to scams.

Verified account icons help you tell when a profile you’re looking at is official. One problem with Twitter is that anyone can purchase a blue checkmark now, making account verification difficult. Here are some ways to distinguish genuine social media profiles from convincing fakes.

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The more social media accounts you have, the more data companies collect on you. There’s an easy way to clean up your old posts from Twitter, Facebook, Imgur and more. Tap or click here for a tool that can automatically remove posts from over 20 sites and apps.

Some of us have been on Facebook for years, meaning we have several years’ worth of photos and videos stored there. If you’re ready to pull the plug, here’s how to get all your media off Facebook.

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Stumped as to why you can’t endlessly browse Twitter? Sorry, but you have to pay up. Twitter now limits how many tweets you can see. Pay for Twitter Blue ($84 a year) and you can read 6,000 daily. Otherwise, free accounts are limited to 600 tweets, and newbies can read just 300.

OK, let’s be honest. If you have time to read 6,000 tweets daily, just pay for it. Still, no one likes having to spend on what was once free, and the internet is up in arms.

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Making money online is not just for big brands, e-commerce store owners or niche entrepreneurs. Almost anyone can become a profitable influencer with the right content and an engaged audience. 

Lately, a new player has entered the influencer arena: Amazon. Capitalizing on this modern way to sell products, Amazon has cut out the middleman and is attracting influencers from social platforms into their consumers’ shopping experience. It’s called Amazon Inspire, and it’s only been available to the public since May 2023.

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What started as a fun way to keep in touch with friends and family has devolved into a hotbed of fake news, scams, data breaches cyberbullying and little to no privacy.

Social media has come a long way from its roots, and most news is bad. But it’s one thing to put yourself out there and another to post information about your children. Social media on its own is harmful to children without your involvement. Don’t make it worse. Consider this your tech etiquette lesson of the day.

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Have you ever been thrown into Facebook jail? Look at Twitter or Reddit and it seems like just about anything (or nothing at all) can get you banned.

Enter the Oversight Board. This is Meta’s oversight board that checks Facebook and Instagram’s content moderation decisions. Last year it received almost 1.3 million appeals. That’s an appeal every 24 seconds! 

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If the long wait times and hard-to-find numbers don’t make it clear enough, I’ll say it: Tech companies don’t want to talk to you.

Here’s a secret I bet you didn’t know. You can have Amazon call you if you have a problem with an order or anything else. Tap or click here for the secret spot on Amazon’s website.

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Over the years, the internet has become a meeting place for would-be crime solvers. They gather on forums, Facebook and Reddit combing through clues and motives. And they’re often right in their hypothesis, helping law enforcement with convictions. 

You probably remember the name Bryan Kohberger — the 28-year-old man arrested for murdering four Idaho college students in November 2022. He was taken into custody on Dec. 30, 2022, at his parent’s home in Pennsylvania.

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