A big innovation has been quietly introduced in WhatsApp, which concerns the blue tick as reading confirmation for messages. Many have already noticed the problem, but the change only implements something long overdue.

WhatsApp turns off blue ticks for voice messages

Perhaps some of you have already noticed. In WhatsApp, an important change was quietly carried out. Until now, blue ticks were always displayed for voice messages as soon as the message was received and listened to. In this way, the sender could see directly whether the recipient had listened to the message – even if the read receipts were deactivated. That is exactly what has now changed. WhatsApp has not completely switched off the blue tick for voice messages but has equated them with normal messages.

Accordingly, what applies to text messages now applies to voice messages. If you have deactivated the read receipt with the blue tick, you will no longer receive a read receipt from your contacts. So if you have deactivated the read receipt, but want to see the blue tick for voice messages again, then you have to reactivate the read receipt on your account. But then the other person must also have activated the read receipt. The blue ticks only reappear if both parties have activated the function.

WhatsApp is planning further changes

A lot has been happening on WhatsApp recently. Although the new terms of use continue to cause controversy, a feature that has long been desired will soon be implemented. WhatsApp will make it possible to use one account on multiple devices. The function is still under development, but the chances are very good that we won’t have to wait too long for it.

After the Parler app, popular with QAnon fans, was thrown out of the Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store earlier this year, the conspiracy app can now hope for a comeback. Both companies would like to offer the app again under certain conditions.

Parler: QAnon app is about to make a comeback

Apple has announced that it wants to offer the Parler platform again in its app store. Even Google, according to a comeback will be at hand, be as long as the operator of the app to guidelines of the Play Store hold. Both Apple and Google kicked the app out of their app stores in January 2021 after massive criticism.

“Parler is back in the Play Store as soon as an app is presented that meets our guidelines,” says a spokeswoman for Google. The group also points out that the app for Android was still available “via other channels” during the ban from the Play Store.

Apple is a step further and has sought a conversation with the operators of Parler: Apple has “extensive discussions with Parler to bring the app into compliance with the guidelines and to include it back in the App Store”, Bloomberg quotes the group. A first update for the app was approved on April 14th. The operators had promised to moderate content better.

Parler: “Wrongly made a scapegoat”

Parler’s operators continue to wash their hands in innocence. One was “wrongly made the scapegoat for the events on January 6th,” it says in a first statement.

Parler is considered a reservoir for right-wing conspiracy theorists and QAnon supporters. After Twitter and Facebook blocked many accounts, Parler became one of the most important means of communication for the planned and ultimately actually carried out the storm on the Capitol in Washington on January 6, 2021.

An entire city disappears overnight. How can this happen? Facebook makes this possible, at least on its social media platforms. The fact is that a delightful city in France near the German border was removed, due to its fragile name.

Facebook removes French city: Bitche, please!

Sometimes the specifics of big tech companies have strange flowers: this is also the case when a small French town near the German border disappeared without any warning from Facebook. The Facebook page was used only to keep in touch with citizens, make announcements, spread the news. Just as countless cities and towns around the world do.

But: He just has a different name. The mayor and the small-town responsible social media expert “Ville de Bitche” may have been surprised a few weeks ago when his community’s Facebook profile was blocked on March 19, as the Travelbook reports. Accordingly, meanwhile, the page has been removed. The algorithm hit and overshot a bit.

Insults, pornographic material, and such should be identified. In the case of “bitche”, the obvious explanation is a mix-up with the English word “bitch”. Originally the correct name for a bitch, today it is commonly translated as “bitch” and used as such. Of course, none of these apply to the city of Bitche.

Bitche needed a new name

A small mistake indeed, just annoyed that Facebook needs some time to fix the error again. According to Travelbook, “Ville de Bitche” is back on Facebook since Tuesday. Meanwhile, he had also created a new page – and intended to use the address of the town hall as a name. Facebook has now apologized for the deletion and the algorithm for “whistled back”. However, Facebook is not always so open about malpractice.

Apple recently had a similar problem: the iPhone cannot be used with a content lock that is not activated to search for certain words associated with adult content. Here too, you met the wrong people, for example, if you fancy sushi, you cannot search for “Asian restaurants”. This error has also been fixed now.