Instagram is introducing new policies limiting interactions between teenagers and adults to make its platform safer for young users. The app has banned adults from direct messaging teenagers who don’t follow them and is introducing “safety prompts” that will be shown to teens when they DM adults who have been “exhibiting potentially suspicious behaviour.” Safety prompts will give teenage users the option to report or block adults who are messaging them. The prompts will remind young users not to feel pressured to respond to messages and to “be careful sharing photos, videos, or information with someone you don’t know.” Notices will appear when Instagram’s moderation systems spot suspicious behaviour from adult users. Instagram also says it’s developing new “artificial intelligence and machine learning technology” to try and detect someone’s age when they sign up for an account. New teenage users who sign up to Instagram will also now be encouraged to make their profile private. If they choose to create a public account, Instagram will later remind them to check their settings.

GoPro relaunches its smartphone app as Quik

GoPro is releasing a new version of its main smartphone app that will now be called Quik. The new app will remain the main interface for connecting to and controlling GoPro cameras, but it is also getting new features, including one called “mural” that’s sort of like a private Instagram feed meant to help people organise their favourite images and videos – regardless of whether they were taken by a GoPro camera and save them from the “abyss of your camera roll,” GoPro CEO says. Close followers of GoPro’s efforts in the software space know that the company already once launched an app called Quik way back in 2016 that was all about auto-editing footage to a beat. But that app has not been supported for a while and will no longer be available to download with the launch of the new Quik app. It also has a few other features like a video editing suite (including a speed adjustment tool), themes and filters, and unlimited original quality cloud backup of everything posted to the mural feed.

Google slashing Play Store cut to 15 per cent for a developer’s first $1M in annual revenue

Google is reducing its long-standing 30 per cent cut, which it takes from each Play Store digital purchase for all Android developers around the world, on the first $1 million they make on the digital storefront each year, starting on July 1st. According to Google, that change means that 99 per cent of Android developers that “that sell digital goods or services” will see a 50 per cent reduction in fees. Google’s news follows Apple’s announcement of a reduced 15 per cent fee last year as part of a new small business programme, with one critical difference: Apple’s fee reduction only applies to developers that make under $1 million per year. Google’s programme is a flat cut to the first $1 million developers make each year. That means whether you’re a student making your first app or a multibillion-dollar company, the first $1 million you make on the Play Store each year will only get charged a 15 per cent service fee by Google. Any money you make after that will then be subject to the usual 30 per cent cut.