Matt Navarra

Welcome to social media’s age-check era ... and Elon’s X will charge you extra for emojis in ads 🙄

Realised I don’t mention it here much but every week @mattnavarra.com and I put a load of hard work into rounding up all of the week’s social media news.

Here’s this week’s edition:

We’ll have to agree to disagree on that one I’m afraid.

Elon Musk's X to start charging more for ads with emojis! 🤬

"X ads with more than one emoji in the ad copy or creative will have a lower quality score and may experience higher pricing"

This is in addition to the recent ban on X ads containing hashtags.

Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK Bluesky users in the UK can verify their age using their face, ID, or payment card.

Bluesky is rolling out age verification in the UK

Bluesky is introducing age checks for UK users ahead of the Online Safety Act deadline.

Users must verify age using a face scan, ID upload, or payment card.

Under-18s or those refusing verification will see adult content blocked and DMs disabled.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino to step down Yaccarino was the first permanent CEO after Elon Musk bought the social media platform in 2022.

BREAKING: X CEO Linda Yaccarino just quit!

Linda Yaccarino announced she’s stepping down as CEO of X after 18 months.

She helped steer X’s pivot to an “everything app” while battling ad boycotts.

Yaccarino called her time “the opportunity of a lifetime.”

No replacement has been named yet.

Elon Musk's AI chatbot churns out antisemitic posts days after update In some posts, Grok inserted antisemitic remarks into its answers without any clear prompting.

Musk’s team deleted some posts, and quietly removed Grok’s “no political correctness” rule.

The bot’s shift came after Musk removed its “woke filters” in a weekend update.

The ADL condemned the bot’s comments as dangerous, warning of growing antisemitism on X.

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Elon Musk's AI chatbot churns out antisemitic posts days after update In some posts, Grok inserted antisemitic remarks into its answers without any clear prompting.

Elon Musk's Grok AI chatbot goes on a shocking antisemitic rant

Grok praised Hitler as the “most effective” response to anti-white hate after a weekend update.

It cited Jewish surnames and said Nazi tactics like camps and elimination were “decisive.”

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There’s granular control: get notified by everyone, only those you follow, or turn alerts off.

Repost and like alerts have been expanded, but some accounts can block being tracked.

www.theverge.com/news/699671/...

2/2

Bluesky just added Twitter-style notifications to follow account activity in real time

You can now follow activity from specific accounts using a bell icon, just like on X / Twitter.

Get alerts for new followers, likes, mentions, and reposts

1/2

Threads lags on web traffic: X drew 145.8M daily visits, Threads just 6.9M

In the U.S., Threads trails X with 15.3M vs 22.9M daily mobile users but beats Bluesky’s 1.1M

techcrunch.com/2025/07/07/t...

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Threads is closing in on Elon Musk’s X

Threads is rapidly closing the gap with X, reaching 115.1M daily mobile users in June, up 127.8% YoY

X dropped 15.2% to 132M mobile users, while Bluesky saw 372.5% growth but remains niche

1/2

The Left is abandoning its online safe space Joining Bluesky was the perfect protest vote against Elon Musk and Twitter. But posts are thin on the ground

Bluesky’s Numbers Crash After Liberal Surge

Bluesky’s active users dropped by over 50%, with unique posters down from 1.5m to 697k and likes halving since Nov.

UK visits fell 37%, while global web visits dipped from 6.7m to 5m.

The Telegraph included my analysis of Bluesky's biggest challenges...

Elon Musk is banning hashtags from ads on X

He calls them “an esthetic nightmare," and the ban starts Friday

Some advertisers used hashtags to boost reach, but Musk has long trashed them as “ugly” and useless

Regular posts can still use hashtags

mashable.com/article/elon...

Is Social Media Just This Generation's "Dangerous" Video Games? 🎮

Social guru @mattnavarra.com joins Stephanie von Bismarck on the new ‘How Do We Manage?’

Listen and watch the full episode now:

📺 https://youtu.be/q_Sn8rjod14
🔈 https://podfollow.com/1809127115

#Podcast #socialmedia

Social Media Guru's Career Skyrocketed After Taking ADHD Medication 💊🚀

@mattnavarra.com joins Stephanie von Bismarck on the new ‘How Do We Manage?’

Listen and watch the full episode now:

📺 https://youtu.be/q_Sn8rjod14
🔈 https://podfollow.com/1809127115

 #adhd

Did he accidentally tweet from a government account? 😬

Social media expert @mattnavarra.com joins Stephanie von Bismarck on the new ‘How Do We Manage?’

Listen and watch the full episode now:

📺 https://youtu.be/q_Sn8rjod14
🔈 https://podfollow.com/1809127115

⭐️ NEW 'HOW DO WE MANAGE?' ⭐️ Social media guru @mattnavarra.com joins Stephanie, discussing how he introduced his children to social media, managing his ADHD, and running David Cameron’s social media accounts.

Listen and watch now:

📺 https://youtu.be/q_Sn8rjod14
🔈 https://podfollow.com/1809127115

Elon Pledges To Retrain Grok Chatbot To Provide More Ideologically Aligned Answers Elon says that Grok is currently too politically correct in its responses.

Elon Musk will retrain Grok to match his beliefs and purge “divisive facts”

He called existing sources “garbage” and asked X users to flag unwanted info

Critics say it's an Orwellian rewrite of reality via AI

Grok’s reach is limited, but its use in US gov agencies makes this shift highly alarming

Bluesky backlash misses the point | TechCrunch Not only is Bluesky more than just a Twitter/X alternative, it's just one app in a wider social ecosystem built on open technology.

Third-party apps like Openvibe + Surf combine Bluesky with other networks

Bluesky risks being seen as “just another X” unless it better promotes its role in the broader, decentralised social web

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Bluesky backlash misses the point

Bluesky’s growth is under scrutiny, with critics labelling it a leftist echo chamber

Bluesky is only 1 app built on the open AT Protocol—users can customise feeds, switch apps, build their own

AT Proto already powers many other niche communities

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Opinion | The Bluesky bubble hurts liberals and their causes The social media network was doomed to fail as progressives tried to re-create old Twitter.

Without exposure to broader audiences, liberals lose the influence they once had on Twitter.

Toxic discourse is rising, turning Bluesky into a political dead end, not a replacement.

2/2

Opinion | The Bluesky bubble hurts liberals and their causes The social media network was doomed to fail as progressives tried to re-create old Twitter.

Bluesky Risks Turning Into a Dead End for Liberals

Progressives pushing an “X-last” strategy by migrating to Bluesky risk isolating themselves politically.

Bluesky’s user base is shrinking, becoming an echo chamber dominated by hardcore Musk and Trump critics.

1/2

Elon Musk Snaps After X User Claims He Was ‘Tripping On Ketamine’ In Resurfaced Video

A wild old clip shows Elon Musk building spoon towers at a Trump dinner

An X user joked he was high on ketamine — Musk clapped back:

www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/entry/elon-m...

I did. Great news for publishers but I wonder how much traffic it drives back to their sites

Elon Musk Says the New York Times Is Lying About His Rampant Drug Use

Elon Musk Says the New York Times Is Lying About His Rampant Drug Use

Musk has blasted the NYT for claiming he’s abusing drugs like ketamine and ecstasy.

He denied the allegations, saying he hasn’t touched ketamine in years + accused the Times of lying “their ass off”

What's your take on it?

Liberal influencers lead—69% are on Bluesky, vs. 15% of conservatives

Yet influencers post more on X: 83% post 4+ days a week vs 31% on Bluesky.

While nearly half of Bluesky users don’t post regularly at all.

www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/...

Bluesky has caught on with news influencers, but X remains more popular

Bluesky use among news influencers nearly doubled post-2024 election, rising from 21% to 43%

But 82% of influencers still use X, and just 6% post only on Bluesky

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Bluesky will begin verifying 'notable' users | TechCrunch Bluesky on Thursday quietly opened the doors to those who want to become verified on its social networking service. In a post published by the Bluesky Bluesky on Thursday quietly opened the doors to t...

Bluesky now lets ‘notable’ users apply for a blue tick

Bluesky now lets users apply for blue-check verification—echoing Twitter’s old system.

Critics say it reintroduces Twitter-style clout hierarchy.

What do you think?

YouTube video by Rick Astley Rick Astley - Never Gonna Give You Up (Official Music Video)

Wow: after 15 years, YouTube has taken down the original 'Rick Roll' video due to a "licensing issue," likely due to the acquisition of Astley's record lable.

The metadata remains, but if you click through it goes to 'video not found':

www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4...

Bluesky takes on 'Sports Twitter' with NBA playoff feature | TechCrunch As the playoffs rage on, Bluesky announced that it is beta testing a new feature during the NBA playoffs. While an NBA game is in progress, a red border

Bluesky Takes a Swing at ‘Sports Twitter’ with NBA Playoff Integration

Bluesky is testing a new NBA playoff feature showing a “live” red border on posts from the NBA account.

Clicking redirects users to external game streams—unlike X, Bluesky isn’t trying to trap users.

WNBA coverage is next