Between August 2025 and October 2026 the big social networks changed priorities. Meta put its capital into artificial intelligence and cut staff, while governments and courts tightened the rules for minors and TikTok settled its future in the United States.
Signed by Byline, Chief editor · English editionUpdated on What happened and when
A study doubts social media can be fixed
A simulation with AI agents concludes that echo chambers and unequal attention come from platform structure, and that six tested interventions did not solve it.
Bluesky blocks Mississippi over its age law
The network pulls its service from that state because the rule requires age checks for every user and parental consent for under-18s.
First framework for TikTok in the US
The algorithm is to be copied and retrained in the United States using only American user data, with Oracle as auditor.
Ad-free Facebook and Instagram in the UK
Meta extends its ad-free subscription to British users, from £2.99 a month on the web and £3.99 on mobile apps.
Meta retires the external Like button
Like and Share plugins for third-party sites stop working on February 10, 2026 and turn invisible.
Australia readies its under-16 ban
From December 10, platforms must show they exclude under-16s or risk fines of up to A$49.5 million.
ByteDance signs the TikTok deal
American investors will hold 80.1 percent of the new company and ByteDance 19.9 percent, according to reports.
France weighs an under-15 social media ban
A draft law would apply the limit from the 2026 school year and ban phones in high schools for pupils aged 15 to 18.
Meta scales back virtual reality
Layoffs at Supernatural and the closure of several studios affect more than a thousand employees in the VR and metaverse divisions.
Discord announces global age checks
The move, criticized after a breach exposed 70,000 ID documents, is softened a day later: most users will not need to send selfies.
Zuckerberg testifies in the addiction trial
Meta's chief executive appears before a jury in Los Angeles in the first case of a wave with more than 1,600 plaintiffs.
Meta expands its Nebius compute contract
The deal adds up to $27 billion over five years and lifts what Meta has contracted with that provider to $30 billion.
Muse Spark, its first proprietary model
Meta releases the first closed model from its superintelligence lab, a turn away from the open Llama family.
Meta and Broadcom extend their alliance to 2029
The pact covers several generations of in-house MTIA chips and an initial commitment of more than a gigawatt of capacity.
Layoffs of roughly 8,000 employees
Meta prepares cuts for May 20, around 10 percent of its workforce, to fund its AI push.
Report reveals a 60 percent team-cut plan
According to Reuters reporting, leadership planned to cut teams by 60 percent; Zuckerberg changed his mind and morale suffered.
The threads that matter
AI as the spending priority
Compute was Meta's through-line. In March 2026 it signed a contract worth up to $27 billion over five years with Nebius, extending an earlier $3 billion deal and bringing what it has contracted with that provider to $30 billion. The company is working with capital spending of up to $135 billion for 2026.
It did not rely on a single supplier: it extended its Broadcom alliance to 2029 to build its own MTIA chips, rented Graviton5 cores from Amazon and became the first major customer of ARM's processor. The same coverage lists the sums committed to Nvidia, AMD and CoreWeave and describes demand that no single supply chain can meet.
In April came Muse Spark, the first proprietary model since Meta Superintelligence Labs was formed. It moves away from Llama, whose fourth generation drew criticism, and scored 52 on the Artificial Analysis index against 18 for Llama 4 Maverick.
Cuts, closures and internal strain
The AI money was funded with headcount. The layoffs planned for May 20 hit about 8,000 employees, 10 percent of the total, on top of more than 25,000 positions cut since 2022. According to the coverage, they did not answer an immediate financial emergency but a reorientation toward AI teams.
Earlier, in January, Meta had laid off much of the Supernatural team and closed virtual reality studios after years of metaverse losses; more than a thousand employees were affected. In October a Reuters report, relayed by a technical newsletter, said leadership considered cutting teams by 60 percent, that Zuckerberg changed his mind, and that low morale and a more mercenary culture remained.
There was also a setback abroad: it was reported that China announced the reversal of a Meta deal, although the coverage does not say which deal it was.
Minors, age checks and legal liability
Age regulation accelerated. From December 10 Australia required platforms to show they exclude under-16s or face fines of up to A$49.5 million; Meta said it would begin deactivating accounts from December 4. France drafted a bill to bar under-15s from social media from the 2026 school year.
The costs surfaced quickly. Bluesky blocked Mississippi rather than collect sensitive data from all its users, and Discord had to soften its global age checks after a breach exposed 70,000 ID documents held by an outside vendor. An analysis in Microsiervos doubts that banning without educating protects young people.
In court, Zuckerberg testified before a jury in Los Angeles in the first trial of a series with more than 1,600 plaintiffs. TikTok and Snap had already settled with the first plaintiff.
- Australia Prohibicion Redes Sociales Menores Que Ocurrira
- Francia Adios Redes Sociales para Menores en 2026
- Bluesky Bloquea Mississippi por la Ley de Verificacion de Edad Impacto y Repercusiones
- Verificacion Edad Discord Brecha Datos Expone Usuarios
- Discord Age Verification No Face Scans For Most
- Menores y Redes Sociales Prohibicion o Educacion
Business model and usage habits
Meta adjusted its offer to regulatory pressure. It brought the ad-free subscription to the United Kingdom, from £2.99 a month on the web and £3.99 on mobile, the gap reflecting app-store fees, and retired the external Like and Share buttons as of February 10, 2026.
Usage data suggest changing habits: a GWI analysis across more than 50 countries put average time on social media at two hours and 20 minutes a day at the end of 2024, almost 10 percent lower than in 2022, with North America as the exception. Another study, using simulations, concluded that social media's pathologies are structural, and a survey of scientists recorded their move from Twitter to Bluesky.
- Facebook e Instagram Suscripcion Sin Anuncios en UK
- Adios Boton Me Gusta Facebook Externo Meta Retira
- Alcanzamos el Pico de las Redes Sociales
- Alerta Estudio Revela que Arreglar las Redes Sociales Podria Ser Imposible Claves y Soluciones
- Exodo Cientifico Por que la Comunidad Cientifica Abandona Twitter por Bluesky Analisis y Razones
TikTok and data security
TikTok was the most visible case of political control. In September it was announced that its algorithm would be retrained in the United States on American user data only and under Oracle's audit; in December deadlines were still in the air until ByteDance signed a deal leaving American investors with 80.1 percent and ByteDance with 19.9 percent. Sources differ on the closing: one says mid-January, another January 22.
Data security ran through the period: Malwarebytes found data on 17.5 million Instagram users on the dark web, linked to a 2024 API exposure, and Meta paused its work with Mercor after a supply-chain attack exposed about four terabytes and prompted a class action of more than 40,000 people.
Why it matters and what to watch
Compute is the new barrier to entry
Spreading spend across several suppliers and in-house chips reduces dependence but raises the stakes; watch whether returns keep pace with capital spending of up to $135 billion.
Product design goes on trial
The Los Angeles trial tests whether platforms are liable for designs said to be addictive; its outcome will shape the other pending lawsuits.
Age checks collide with privacy
Bluesky and Discord show that age control forces the collection of sensitive data; the test is doing it without creating new targets for cybercriminals.
AI reshuffles work inside Meta
The cuts and the report on reduced teams suggest the reorganization carries an internal cost that does not show up in the financial results.
What we think
We read this period with measured eyes. Meta has shown it can move vast amounts of capital in a short time, but the same reports show the price: shrunken payrolls, shuttered projects and an internal culture that, according to one account, was left bruised. Regulation of minors is advancing faster than the evidence that it works, and several measures arrived with side effects their sponsors did not foresee. We think it prudent to separate what is confirmed from what is plan, draft or unconfirmed report. The conclusion we stand behind is a modest one: social networks are no longer contested only on user counts, but on who bears the technical and legal cost of operating at scale.
Byline, Chief editor · English editionEverything we published on this topic
27 stories from Aug 2025 to Oct 2026, by month. These are the original articles this guide rests on; each one links to its source.
