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A deepfake surge is driving relentless AI-powered celebrity scams, with persona kits and adaptive fraud campaigns eroding online trust.

PR teams face flat budgets, leadership disconnects and AI disruption as they struggle to prove impact and align with business goals.

Babeltext debuts MC-ML-AI, a standard to turn multilingual, multichannel customer chats into completed bookings, transactions and cases.

Instagram denies a data breach after a dataset on 17m users appears on hacking forums, blaming old leak scraps and a fixed reset bug.

Kyowon outage and an Instagram bug expose entrenched identity security gaps across APAC, from credential hygiene to privileged access.

Australian studio unveils AI ‘celebrity’ Bruce Ryder, launching a global hyperfiction tour from Los Angeles with interactive social shows.

Brands must build “machine trust” by 2026 or risk vanishing from AI-led discovery as CEEK warns creativity alone will no longer secure visibility.

Jaded London taps Verde Digital for an SEO overhaul as it chases GBP £100 million in revenue and ramps up global streetwear expansion.

Black Friday still delivered the peak online surge, but AI-driven search stretched shopping demand across a longer November window.

US holiday shoppers to rein in festive spending as 60% say financial strain will curb gift budgets, new national survey data shows.

Indosat’s mobile data traffic jumped about 15% over Indonesia’s year-end holidays as digital use surges beyond major cities and tourist hubs.

Tesco tops the UK’s Christmas social media league, outpacing rivals on engagement and EMV with a wide-reaching creator-led strategy.

Meta has bought Singapore AI start-up Manus, aiming to embed its autonomous general-purpose agent across consumer and business products.

iMessage-based social app Series tops 1m posts and 10,000 daily users as young people drift from public feeds to private chats.

Innovid adds Reddit, Meta optimisation and Google CM360 tools to Social Ads Manager, promising smoother cross-platform social campaigns.

ChatGPT tops Apple’s 2025 app charts in New Zealand, as AI tools, social media, streaming and mobile games dominate downloads.

New Zealand MPs unite across party lines to back under-16 social media curbs after a shocking ‘Worst Children’s Library’ exhibit at Parliament.

Gen Z is turning away from polished ads and backing creators, forcing brands to pivot towards social commerce and community-led influence.

Gen Z’s ‘Returniture’ habit of sending back bulky furniture bought online is soaring, leaving UK retailers to shoulder rising costs and complexity.

UK shoppers want AI for real-time delivery tracking and returns but demand transparency and human support for trust and control over choices.