Meta's flirty celeb chatbots were a BAD idea

...but can Facebook make you Poke your friends again?

Author

Matt Navarra
September 05, 2025

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Hello, geeks!

Poke poke! Pay attention! It’s time to dive into the week’s social media news.

This week…

  • Why Meta will have pissed off a bunch of celebrities as it rushes to put AI everywhere 😬

  • How Facebook wants to get you poking again 👈

  • Is Elon forcing the UK police to do the moderation he should be doing? 👮

  • The Trump/Elon rift gets gloriously petty 😂

And LOADS more. Grab a coffee, there’s lots to get stuck into….

But first, did you see these?

Tired of scrolling for social ad copy inspiration…?
⤷ Steal 36+ scroll-stopping ad hooks top brands are testing right now — Free Cheatsheet 🔥

The hidden way AI Is slowly breaking your brand on social…
⤷ …And here’s how to fix it 😮

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Major brands like Huda Beauty, Bones Coffee, Flo Health, and HelloFresh, use Insense to find, communicate, and manage creator collabs through streamlined workflows, automated payments, lifetime usage rights, and diverse collab types.

P.S. Book a free strategy call with Insense by September 19th and get $200 for your first campaign.

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🔥 GEEKOUT HOT 5

Geekout’s pick of the hottest headlines in social this week:

Meta reportedly allowed unauthorized celebrity AI chatbots on its services

Meta hosted several AI chatbots with the names and likenesses of celebrities without their permission, according to Reuters.

  1. Meta updates chatbot rules to avoid inappropriate topics with teen users [PROTECTING]

  2. Instagram finally lands on iPad with a Reels-first experience [REELING]

  3. Elon Musk’s X Money plans stalled by regulators and staff turnover [DELAYING]

  4. Facebook is trying to make ‘pokes’ happen again [POKING]

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  • 💬 How to automate replies without sounding like ChatGPT on autopilot

  • 🧠 Battle-tested tactics to boost loyalty, speed up customer care, and stay human

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🚨 EVERYONE’S TALKING ABOUT

Is the UK too heavy-handed on social media posts?

Brits keep getting arrested for tweets. Elon Musk is (part of) the reason.

If you’re in the UK and follow the news, you’ll no doubt have seen a lot of former comedy writer Graham Linehan this week.

He was arrested at Heathrow Airport on Monday as he returned to the UK from the US, on suspicion of inciting violence against trans people in social media posts.

This will sadly not surprise anyone who has followed Linehan’s trajectory over the past decade.

But regardless of your opinion of this specific case, there’s something pretty wild about FIVE police officers meeting someone at an airport to arrest them over a social media post.

Incitement to violence is a serious offence and should not be tolerated, but regardless of how this case ends up, should the police be helping people like Linehan bolster their support by claiming the state is persecuting them for their views?

As journalist James Ball wrote in his newsletter yesterday, a lot of police resources are being expended on social media posts, even if the number of convictions is low:

“The police are knocking on people’s doors, in serious numbers, and arresting them for their social media posts. It is true that more than 1,000 people are arrested every month over things they posted to the internet. What is often left out is that most of these arrests eventually result in no further action, or in a police caution.

“Most of the remainder is serious threatening behaviour, harassment or stalking. The numbers of people actually being jailed for borderline social posts in the UK remains small.”

Ball argues that Elon Musk is at least partly to blame for this, because he’s turned X into a place where hateful speech isn’t moderated, something that wasn’t the case in the Twitter days.

Foster an atmosphere where casual racism, homophobia, transphobia and other deeply unpleasant traits are treated as fair game, and you will encourage people to post those things; things that may well fall foul of hate speech laws in the UK.

If Musk really does care about crime in the UK (as he claims), he’ll help the police here by cleaning up X.

But I suspect he’d rather people were allowed to incite violence against minorities he doesn’t like with impunity. It’s ‘free speech’, right? Grim.

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✨ NEW & NOTEWORTHY

Everything else you need to know from the past seven days…

Meta / Facebook / Messenger 👥

Facebook Page anniversaries [Image: Ahmed Ghanem]

__________


Instagram ✨

Updated DM management in Instagram

__________


Threads 🧵 / WhatsApp 🟢

10,000-character text attachments in Threads

  • Threads is taking on X by offering free support for up to 10,000-character text attachments, plus prominent links

  • Threads has added limits to messages, allowing you to send up to three messages before the recipient accepts your request

  • Threads has been spotted offering a ‘Followed from your post in the [Topic Tag] feed’ notification

  • WhatsApp fixed a ‘zero-click’ bug used to hack Apple users with spyware

  • WhatsApp Statuses are getting a Close Friends feature

  • WhatsApp is testing a new feature that shows the duration of voice messages directly in the chats tab and on iPhone lock screen notifications, without opening the chat

__________


Twitter (‘X’) 🤡

Add a nickname for your X chats [Image: Radu Oncescu]

__________


YouTube 📺

Gift your favourite YouTube streamers. [Image via Social Media Today]

  • YouTube’s first global, free NFL livestream debuts today, including drones, 50+ cameras, creator streams, and a halftime show by Karol G

  • Google is training its AI tools on YouTube videos. Some creators aren’t happy

  • YouTube is warning Family plan users who don’t live together they'll lose Premium access

  • YouTube has rolled out a revamped UI for its Android TV app

  • YouTube has launched shareable community posts and new live gifting tools

  • YouTube will become the biggest digital home for Sesame Street, streaming hundreds of classic episodes in 2026

  • YouTube’s settlement talks with Donald Trump, after he sued for being banned after the January 6th insurrection, have apparently stalled

  • Disney must pay $10 million after an FTC investigation into the company collecting children’s data on YouTube.

__________


TikTok 📱

Buy movie tickets in TikTok (in the US)

__________


LinkedIn / Telegram / Netflix / More… 👻

Music in profiles on Telegram

__________

🔥 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 AI

The newest social media AI features spotted this week:

WhatsApp now lets you swap your video chat backgrounds to something more exciting or appropriate, using AI-generated scenes.

WhatsApp Adds AI-Generated Backgrounds for Video Chats

Also spotted this week 👀

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📆 WHILE WE WERE AWAY

A quick roundup of the big stories from when Geeekout took a break last week:

  • Donald Trump said the TikTok ‘deadline’ will just keep getting pushed back until a deal is done

  • YouTube caused a massive stir with its machine learning enhanced videos (particularly thanks to Will Smith)

  • YouTube expanded its Hype feature globally

  • Meta’s AI hiring drive saw setbacks as some staff left, or never even started

  • Taylor Swift’s engagement announcement was a record breaker for Instagram (although a record number of reposts isn’t a massive deal as they’re a new feature)

  • Instagram followed TikTok with its own feature for US college students

  • Bluesky blocked users in Mississippi over the state’s new age assurance law

  • Spotify launched DMs as it tries to become more social. It ditched a similar feature a few years back.

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💬 YOU CAN QUOTE ME ON THAT

When I’m quoted in the news, you’ll find it here:

I gave my thoughts to CNET on the impact of AI on the role of a social media manager…

AI Is Taking Over Our Social Media Feeds, but Maybe Not How You Expect

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😆 LOL

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🌡️ VIRAL

Prepare to be completely unsurprised!

The ‘Jet2 holiday’ meme has helped Jess Glynne’s Hold My Hand to the position of TikTok’s Global and UK Song of the Summer.

(Over in South Korea, ‘Soda Pop’ from K-Pop Demon Hunters took the helm)

TikTok UK Reveals the Song of the Summer 2025 - Newsroom | TikTok

Also going viral this week: 🔥

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🪧 BRANDS

Okay, so the Taylor/Travis love-fest happened while I was away last week, but it’s worth looking at how brands embraced the opportunity of harnessing some algorithm juice off the back of it…

“Your English teacher and your gym teacher are getting married,” Swift wrote. Unleash the creatives…

There are more brand reactions to the news here.

More brand news this week: 👀

  • PlayStation and Xbox swapped banners on their X profiles, leading fans to call it an end to the console war

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🙊 WHAT DID YOU SAY?!

“It makes me sad, because I was a big part of this whole creator economy, and now, it’s literally being dismantled by the company that built it.”

- Kathleen Grace, a former YouTube employee, is not happy Google is training its AI on creators’ YouTube videos without opt-out or payment

-
Also overheard this week: 👂

  • "Post one unexpected insight you picked from your experience in that area. Keep it under 5 sentences. Do this every day for 6 months… By the end, you will be recognized as the world's leading expert in that subject area and you can charge whatever you want for endorsements, your time, or whatever.”

    – X's product head, Nikita Bier says there's a playbook to getting rich on the platform

  • “I get really frustrated and in a bad mood if my whole day is scheduled and there’s a thing that I know is really important and I don’t get time to do it because I’m sitting in other things that are not the most important thing to be doing… You have too many days like that in a row and I just, like, explode.”

    – Mark Zuckerberg on the importance of having dedicated time without any meetings or commitments

  • “Dear Meta, After four solid years, I've decided it's time for me to move on to a new exciting chapter. My last day is this Friday… So, time for a performance review. Your's not mine 😉 Rating: Met Most Expectations* *caveat: they were sky-high."

    – Meta's EU policy manager Christelle Dernon’s note to the company as she announced internally that she was leaving

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👀 MY FAV READS

“Threads is the Big Bang Theory of social media. Bland, boring, largely unoffensive, and somehow, it was the most popular show on television for years.”

Who is actually using Threads?

A reported 400 million monthly users, but where's the culture?

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😮 WTF?!

The Trump White House swapped its LinkedIn avatar to a glowing shot of Trump’s face.

Now, Obama-era staffers see his mug stamped on their LinkedIn profiles.

Don Jr. gloated, calling it “one of the great trolls” 🙄

White House Childishly Trolls Obama on LinkedIn

Also WTF this week: 👀

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🤦‍♂️ FAIL

Donald Trump last night hosted a glitzy White House event for tech bigwigs like Zuck, Bill Gates, Tim Cook, and Sam Altman.

But it was a big FAIL for Elon Musk, who was NOT on the invite list.

I bet that stings…

Trump hosts US tech leaders at White House dinner – minus Elon Musk

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📺 WATCH THIS

WhatsApp’s fun new ad stars Adam Scott and Adam Brody in a push get you group chatting there vs rival apps….

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👔 YOU’RE HIRED!

Hot new social media jobs worth checking out this week:

Airbnb is looking for a Reputational Social Lead [Remote, USA]

More top social media jobs spotted this week 💼

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📲 NEW APP

Adobe is bringing a free version of its Premiere video editor to the iPhone this month.

It includes handy features like easy exports to TikTok, YouTube Shorts, and Instagram.

An Android version is also planned.

Adobe’s Premiere video editor is coming to iPhone for free

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🪦 RIP

Social media features heading for the graveyard:

Remember Flip, the one-time TikTok challenger?

It’s heading for the ‘deadpool’ (as TechCrunch sometimes calls it) or ‘down the dumper’ (as Smash Hits magazine used to call it).

It’s shutting down, in other words.

TikTok Challenger Flip Shuts Down

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👌 PRO TIPS

How to stop your celeb collab from becoming a viral PR dumpster fire 😱

With Celebrity Campaigns, Put Risk Management Over Reach‬

More pro-tips worth checking out ✨

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📊 SOCIAL STATS

47.3 BILLION

– The total number of views clocked up by MrBeast’s YouTube Shorts videos, topping his 46.6 billion long-form total

Even more social stats: 📈

  • INSTAGROWTH: Meta’s latest EU data shows Instagram skyrocketing with 6.17% growth—ten times Facebook’s sluggish 0.65%.

  • TIKTOKULAR: TikTok’s 2024 revenue in the U.K., Europe, and Latin America surged 38%, reaching $64 billion—more than double its 2022 total

  • IN THE MONEY: Research shows that a global head of product and design position at TikTok could command a $949,349 per year salary

  • LINKEDUP: LinkedIn’s EU user base jumped 14% in the first half of 2025, hitting 54.7 million monthly actives

  • DISTURBING: New research found Character.ai bots delivering disturbing content to children every 5 minutes

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📈 CHARTED

A map of LinkedIn’s userbase by country across the EU…

More charted social insights spotted: 👀.

  • AI ADS: US retailers’ adoption of Meta Advantage+ ads, charted

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💥 EVEN MORE SOCIAL MEDIA NEWS & UPDATES

Meta, TikTok Told to Get Ready as Australia’s Under-16 Ban Nears

Meta, Google, TikTok Inc. and other digital platforms have been told by Australia’s online safety regulator to prepare now for the country’s social-media ban for under-16s — three months out from when the law comes into force.

  • US content creators and influencers could soon be able to take up to $25,000 in tips tax-free. [Forbes]

  • US college-focused social app Fizz has expanded into grocery delivery. [TechCrunch]

  • RedNote parent company Xiaohongshu is on track to triple its profit to $3 billion this year. [Bloomberg $$$]

  • Australia's social media ban can be enforced 'effectively' but with risks, official report has found. [BBC News]

  • Nepal has blocked Facebook, X, YouTube and others for failing to register with the government. TikTok is among the platforms allowed to stay live. [AP]

  • A new “creator house” is bringing the ‘College Gameday’ experience to the TikTok crowd. [TubeFilter]

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📰 WEEKEND READS

Geekout’s pick of the best longer reads to sink into over the weekend:

“Mixing dense political ideas with allusions to Twilight and Donald Duck, these films have become a thrilling DIY artform – one entirely conceived, written, filmed and performed by their stars.”

Conspiracies, costume changes, and three-hour deep dives: inside the wild west of YouTube video essays

More great weekend reads:

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😳 AND FINALLY…

Mark Zuckerberg is suing Mark Zuckerberg.

Wait… what?! 🤔

Mark Zuckerberg, the Lawyer, Is Suing Mark Zuckerberg, the CEO

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📅 BACK NEXT WEEK…

And that’s pretty much everything worth knowing about in social media land this week.

I’m heading off to pop the cork on a bottle of Champagne…. 🍾

…The 6-week school summer holiday is over, and the kids are back in class. 🙏

I might finally catch-up on client work! 👌

Goodbye, geeks!

P.S. This newsletter is edited by Martin SFP Bryant

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