The company said that subscribers can access features designed to boost productivity and creativity, plus expanded AI capabilities. Premium tiers will be available on Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp. Paying members will get special features and more control over how they share content and interact with others. The company plans to experiment with different subscription packages and feature sets. Each platform will offer its own unique benefits.

Meta is set to test out new features on its apps

Meta hasn’t settled on a single approach yet and will test various options before finalizing its strategy. A major piece of the new subscription plans involves Manus, an AI agent that Meta recently bought for around $2 billion. The company wants to expand Manus as part of its paid offerings through a dual strategy. Meta will build Manus into its existing products while continuing to sell standalone Manus subscriptions to business customers.

Alessandro Paluzzi, a reverse engineer known for uncovering unreleased features, recently shared a screenshot showing Meta working on adding a Manus AI shortcut to Instagram. Meta also plans to introduce paid tiers for AI-powered features like Vibes video generation. Vibes is a short-form video tool within the Meta AI app that lets people make and modify AI-created videos.

Since it launched last year, Vibes has been available at no cost. But Meta now wants to create a model where basic services stay free, but users can pay for additional video creation capacity each month. Details about paid features for WhatsApp and Facebook are not clear yet, but Paluzzi said Instagram’s subscription will include the ability to create unlimited audience lists.

In addition, users can see which followers don’t follow back and view Stories anonymously without the poster knowing. The company’s current paid service, Meta Verified, will function independently of these additional subscriptions. According to Meta, it will use the knowledge gained from Meta Verified to create subscription services that appeal to corporations, content producers, and regular consumers.

Meta is trying to focus on businesses and creators with its Meta Verified. In addition to other advantages, it offers a verified badge, 24-hour customer service, defense against impersonation, improved search visibility, and special stickers. Beyond creative and business accounts, a larger audience is intended to be served by the planned subscriptions. The move lets Meta create additional revenue streams, though the company faces challenges from subscription fatigue.

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According to the judge, the social networking company didn’t illegally control the market because it competes with Alphabet Inc.’s YouTube and TikTok. FTC spokesperson Joe Simonson stood by the agency’s case. “Meta violated our antitrust laws when it acquired Instagram and WhatsApp,” he said. He pointed to 2020, when the agency first filed the case during the first Trump administration, saying “the staggering market power was on full display for everyone to see.”

The judge said the FTC failed to prove monopoly power

Meta spokesperson Christopher Sgro said the district court got it right and “recognizes the fierce competition we face.” He said the company would “remain focused on innovating and investing in America.” The ruling was a big loss for the FTC, which filed the lawsuit in 2020, trying to break up the company. The agency filed a notice of appeal on Tuesday and will file its full arguments later.

A senior agency official, who didn’t want to be named, told Bloomberg that the FTC thinks Boasberg looked at competition today instead of the market back when the lawsuit started. The official said that even now, Meta’s Instagram doesn’t really compete with YouTube or TikTok. In his November decision, Boasberg wrote that the FTC had a hard time defining Meta’s product market.

He claimed that it was because “apps surge and recede, chase one craze and move on from others, and add new features with each passing year.” He said the agency didn’t prove Meta holds monopoly power now. Meta Chief Legal Officer Jen Newstead was happy with the decision, saying it “recognizes that Meta faces fierce competition.” She called the company’s products beneficial and said they show American innovation and economic growth.

The FTC’s original case said Meta, which used to be called Facebook Inc., bought the two companies in 2012 and 2014 so it wouldn’t have to compete with them. The agency said these purchases strengthened Meta’s monopoly in social networking for friends and family connections. Meta argued its competitors go way beyond traditional friends and family sharing.

The company includes short-form video, commerce, and private messaging. Meta brought in people from Reddit Inc., X, TikTok, and Pinterest Inc. to talk about how their platforms compete for user time and attention, which means advertising money. Boasberg didn’t buy the FTC claim about Meta’s applications.

He wrote that the four platforms have “evolved to have nearly identical” features, and evidence “resoundingly shows” users see TikTok and YouTube as alternatives to Meta’s apps. This case is one of five major antitrust lawsuits filed by the FTC or Justice Department against the world’s biggest technology platforms. Two federal judges already ruled that Alphabet Inc.’s Google illegally monopolized online search and advertising markets.

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Meta mentioned that the action commenced during the week of December 4 through December 11. The company mentioned that it started removing young users a week before the ban officially started on December 10. The Australian government, led by Prime Minister Albanese, said it will share official numbers this week showing how many young people were removed from different platforms covered by the new rules.

Meta cuts access for teens as companies question the law

In a statement released overnight, Meta said the ban is not achieving what the Australian government hoped it would. The company argues the law is not making young people safer or improving their well-being as intended. Meta raised concerns that vulnerable teenagers are now cut off from helpful online communities where they found support.

The company also warned that these young users might move to apps with fewer safety rules and less oversight. The tech giant also took issue with what it called “inconsistent” ways of checking how old users are. Meta questioned the basic idea behind the law itself. “The premise of the law, which prevents under-16-year-olds from holding a social media account so they aren’t exposed to an ‘algorithmic experience’, is false,” Meta said in its online post.

The company explained that platforms allowing teens to browse without logging in still use algorithms to show content that might interest them. These algorithms just work in a less personalized manner that can be adjusted based on age. Meta said it will keep following Australian law but wants government officials to work with tech companies to find a different solution.

“We call on the Australian government to engage with industry constructively to find a better way forward, such as incentivising all of industry to raise the standard in providing safe, privacy-preserving, age-appropriate experiences online, instead of blanket bans,” the company stated. The Australian government approved the minimum age requirement in 2024, aiming to shield young people from targeted algorithms and damaging content on social platforms.

Meanwhile, companies that fail to take “reasonable steps” to keep users under 16 off their sites face penalties reaching $50 million. The ban applies to Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok, X, YouTube, Reddit, Twitch, Threads, and Kick. The eSafety Commission, which makes sure companies follow the age limit, has said it could add other social platforms to the list if they meet the ban requirements.

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The Meta co-founder said that his 13-year stretch as Asana’s CEO was “exhausting,” and that he never planned to take the top job in the first place. Dustin, who was one of the core builders of Facebook in 2004 alongside Mark Zuckerberg, Eduardo Saverin, Chris Hughes, and Andrew McCollum, left the social network in 2008 but kept a little over 8% of the company, which made him one of the youngest billionaires on the planet with a net worth of around $12 billion.

After leaving Facebook, Dustin co-founded Asana, a work-management software platform meant to make collaboration easier. He became its CEO almost by accident. Earlier this year, he stepped down after 13 years, becoming the company’s chairman while still holding 53% of Asana’s outstanding shares, split between Class A and Class B stock. His comments about the experience gave a rare look at what it means to be an introvert running a fast-growing tech company through years of chaos.

Meta co-founder details his experience

Speaking on the podcast, Dustin said, “I don’t like to manage teams, and it wasn’t my intention when we started Asana.” He said he wanted to focus on engineering instead. “Then one thing led to another, and I was CEO for 13 years, and I just found it quite exhausting,” said Dustin.

He described being an introvert forced to “put on this face day after day,” expecting it to get easier once the company matured. It never did. “The world just kept getting more chaotic, the first Trump presidency, the pandemic, and all the race stuff.” He added that being CEO eventually felt less like building a company and more like “reacting to problems.”

Dustin’s honesty about introversion and leadership mirrors what many high-profile figures have shared. Zuck, Bill Gates, and Warren Buffett have all described themselves as introverts who prefer quiet over crowds. Meanwhile, even as Dustin has stepped back from daily leadership, Meta continues expanding. On October 21, Meta and funds managed by Blue Owl Capital entered a joint venture to develop and own the Hyperion data-center campus.

Meta will handle construction and property management, while Blue Owl will own 80% of the venture. Meta will hold 20%. Both parties agreed to fund their share of roughly $27 billion in total development costs covering power, cooling, and connectivity systems. As part of the deal, Meta contributed land and construction-in-progress assets tied to the project, which had been classified as held-for-sale. Blue Owl’s managed funds injected $7 billion in cash, while Meta received a one-time $3 billion distribution from the venture.

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“Claude Code has become the go-to choice for coders everywhere, and so it was no surprise to learn OpenAI’s technical staff were also using our coding tools ahead of the launch of GPT-5. Unfortunately, this is a direct violation of our terms of service,” Christopher Nulty, an Anthropic spokesperson, said in a statement.

Under its commercial terms, Anthropic specifically states that customers may not develop another product or service, create their AI models using Anthropic’s platform, or attempt to dissect or copy its technology. This adjustment to Claude’s availability coincides with OpenAI’s internal preparations for GPT-5, the forthcoming model touted for enhanced coding capabilities.

Anthropic announces weekly usage cap on Claude codes

According to insiders, OpenAI integrated Claude into its proprietary toolchain via custom APIs rather than the usual chat portal. This arrangement enabled OpenAI to assess Claude’s performance on programming and writing tasks, and to evaluate its responses to safety-related queries regarding areas such as CSAM, self-harm, and defamatory content. The findings were then used to measure Claude against the in-house models of OpenAI and to tune OpenAI’s system accordingly.

Responding to the development, Hannah Wong, chief communications officer at OpenAI, said, “It’s industry standard to evaluate other AI systems to benchmark progress and improve safety. While we respect Anthropic’s decision to cut off our API access, it’s disappointing considering our API remains available to them.”

Nulty also added that granting API access for purposes like benchmarking and safety reviews is still important for the industry. The company is yet to clarify how the current restrictions on Claude might affect its ongoing evaluation. API restrictions have long been wielded as leverage in the tech sector. For instance, Facebook previously cut off Vine (owned by Twitter), and more recently, Salesforce imposed constraints on rival Slack integrations.

Anthropic recently revealed plans to introduce weekly caps on Claude Code to reduce continuous background consumption by users. The company said in an email and on X that the new limits will start on August 28. These restrictions will affect users on the $20 Pro tier as well as those on the $100 and $200 Max tiers. Existing five-hourly usage quotas will remain unchanged.

In addition, the update is expected to include two separate weekly quotas: a general usage cap and a model-specific allowance for Claude Opus 4. Max-tier subscribers will have the option to purchase additional capacity at Anthropic’s standard API pricing once they exceed the weekly thresholds. This adjustment builds on a subdued deployment of usage ceilings for Claude Code implemented earlier this summer.

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The new agreement between Meta and UMG broadens the scope of licensed content to include additional Meta-owned platforms such as WhatsApp and Threads, the latter of which was introduced last year. Alongside these platforms, the agreement continues to cover other Meta services like Facebook, Messenger, Instagram, and Meta Horizon. This expansion reflects both companies’ commitment to maximizing artists’ reach and revenue potential within the evolving social media landscape.

Addressing AI-generated content

An essential aspect of this collaboration is its focus on tackling the issue of unauthorized AI-generated content, a growing concern for artists and songwriters. While specific details of the deal remain undisclosed, Meta and UMG have indicated that their partnership will include measures to protect creators from the impact of AI-generated material that might infringe on their rights. This initiative marks a significant step towards safeguarding the integrity of human creativity in the digital age.

UMG’s chief digital officer, Michael Nash, emphasized the importance of this aspect of the deal, stating that Meta shares UMG’s vision of respecting and compensating artists fairly. Nash highlighted that addressing the challenges posed by unauthorized AI content is crucial for protecting artists’ rights now and in the future.

Licensing expansion to WhatsApp

For the first time, the new agreement will see Meta licensing UMG artists’ music and UMPG songwriters’ work for use on WhatsApp. Previously, Meta had only licensed music for its other social media platforms, such as Facebook and Instagram. This extension to WhatsApp represents a significant development, allowing for more widespread distribution and monetization of artists’ music on a platform with a global user base.

UMG, known for representing global icons like Elton John, Drake, Taylor Swift, and Bad Bunny, initially partnered with Meta, then Facebook, in 2017. This original deal made UMG the first music company to authorize using its music across Facebook’s platforms. The latest agreement builds on this foundation, ensuring artists receive fair compensation for their work in the rapidly evolving digital landscape.

Commitment to protecting creators

The new partnership between Meta and UMG underscores a shared commitment to protecting the interests of human creators. Both companies have expressed their dedication to ensuring that artists and songwriters are compensated fairly for their contributions to the industry. Meta’s vice president of music and content business development, Tamara Hrivnak, emphasized that the partnership not only strengthens established platforms like Facebook and Instagram but also extends to new opportunities on platforms like WhatsApp.

This collaboration is part of UMG’s ongoing efforts to secure fair compensation for its artists in the digital age. Following a period of tension between the two companies earlier this year, UMG entered into another social media licensing agreement with TikTok. The deal with Meta represents a continued effort by UMG to adapt to the challenges and opportunities presented by the evolving social media landscape.

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