Meta-owned messaging platform WhatsApp has announced a series of new updates designed to improve how users communicate in group chats, introducing enhanced polls, a new @all mention feature and the ability to create new chats from existing groups.

The latest additions build on several group chat improvements introduced earlier this year, as WhatsApp continues to refine one of its most widely used features. The updates aim to help users make decisions more quickly, improve communication in busy conversations and make it easier to organise discussions without creating unnecessary clutter.

New tools to simplify group decisions

WhatsApp has expanded its polling feature with three new options designed to make group decision-making more efficient.

Users can now set a closing time for polls, ensuring that voting automatically ends at a specified deadline. Poll creators also have the option to hide participants’ names, allowing members to vote privately. In addition, poll questions can now be edited within 15 minutes of being posted, making it possible to correct mistakes or clarify wording without creating a new poll.

The changes are intended to make organising meetings, events and group activities quicker and more straightforward.

New ways to keep everyone informed

Among the most significant additions is the introduction of @all, a feature that allows users to notify every member of a group with a single mention, rather than tagging individuals separately. The feature is designed for announcements such as schedule changes, event reminders or urgent updates. In groups with more than 32 members, only administrators will be able to use @all.

WhatsApp says users will continue to have control over their notifications and can choose to mute @all alerts through the app’s notification settings if they prefer. The platform has also introduced a feature that allows users to create a new group chat directly from an existing one. Instead of adding participants individually, members of an existing group can be selected with a single tap to start a separate conversation.

The latest updates follow the introduction earlier this year of group message history, member tags and event reminders, as WhatsApp continues to expand the tools available for managing group conversations.

TikTok has announced a new set of initiatives focused on cracking down AI spam and how social media users can spot it. With more than 1 billion people using the app each month in 2025, the ByteDance‑owned company has become one of the world’s biggest public stages — a place where entertainment, commentary, activism and misinformation all travel at the same speed. And as AI‑generated content floods social feeds everywhere, TikTok is trying to stop its own platform from becoming a playground for synthetic junk.

The company’s latest update focuses on two fronts: helping users understand AI better, and stopping AI‑generated spam from overwhelming the real creators who keep the app alive.

AI literacy with focus on manipulated content

TikTok is expanding its AI literacy push with new resources created alongside NAMLE and AI and deepfakes expert Henry Ajder. The aim is to give users something more useful than vague safety tips — practical explanations of how AI tools work, how to spot manipulated content, and how to use AI without accidentally contributing to the mess.

It’s also doubling down on expert‑led content. Through the NoFiltr programme, launched in November 2025, helped trusted organisations to generate more than 200 million views with content that enables people better understand and use AI. TikTok says it has already invested more than $4 million behind the initiative and plans to keep scaling it.

“TikTok’s early and scaled implementation of Content Credentials demonstrates how provenance can deliver meaningful value in real-world environments around the world,” said Clement Wolf, Chair of the C2PA. “Bringing that experience to the Steering Committee will help accelerate our collective work to make transparency a consistent and trusted part of the digital ecosystem”.

AI spam is getting smarter

AI creativity is exploding on TikTok, but so is AI‑generated spam. The platform removed over 86 million fake accounts in the first three months of this year — a number that shows just how aggressively spam networks try to hijack trending topics.

Now TikTok is testing new detection systems aimed specifically at accounts that mass‑produce AI‑generated content on sensitive subjects like politics, current events, financial advice and medical claims.

Transparency is becoming a requirement

Two years ago, TikTok became the first major video platform to adopt C2PA Content Credentials, a technology that helps people see when a video has been generated or heavily edited using AI. It’s now joining the C2PA Steering Committee, giving it a seat at the table as transparency standards evolve across the industry.

So far, TikTok has labelled over 3 billion videos as AI‑generated using a mix of Content Credentials, creator‑applied labels and invisible watermarking.

Alongside safety measures, TikTok is still building creative AI tools like Smart Split and AI Outline, and testing features such as Manage Topics, which let users control how much AI‑generated content appears in their feed.

The Metropolitan Police has announced a significant expansion of drones, live facial recognition (LFR) and AI‑driven video analysis, with Commissioner Sir Mark Rowley warning that policing risks being overtaken by increasingly tech‑enabled criminals. The plans include drone coverage in every London borough within a year and a shared emergency‑services drone network designed to speed up responses and reduce unnecessary deployments.

The announcement forms part of a wider push to modernise policing as offenders adopt more sophisticated tools and as London generates unprecedented volumes of digital evidence. The Met says its early use of drones, LFR and AI has already delivered measurable results, including faster response times, hundreds of arrests linked to facial recognition deployments and major reductions in the time required to review CCTV footage. Senior leaders argue that scaling these capabilities is now essential if the force is to keep pace with the scale and speed of modern crime.

Drones to be deployed across all boroughs

The Met’s drone programme has grown quickly since a pilot in Islington last October. Three drone hubs now operate across London, with nine drones attending around 200 incidents a week and often arriving in under two minutes. Rowley will argue that the force must accelerate further to keep pace with offenders.

“This is a turning point for policing in London. Today we are setting out how we will significantly step up our use of technology to fundamentally change how we protect the public. Drones are already transforming how we respond to incidents – getting visuals from the scene in minutes, giving officers critical intelligence and helping us act faster and more safely. Now we are scaling that capability across London and working with partners to create a truly integrated, city-wide drone network. We’re also rolling out live facial recognition with static cameras in areas like the West End, building on the success we have already seen in Croydon where it is driving arrests and cutting crime” says Commissioner Sir Mark Rowle.

Polling cited by the Met suggests that 87 per cent of Londoners support drones being used to respond to 999 calls.

Facial recognition to expand following Croydon trial

A wider rollout of static LFR cameras after trials in Croydon, where the Met says the technology contributed to hundreds of arrests and a 10.5 per cent reduction in crime, is also expected. Since January, LFR has helped officers locate more than 2,000 wanted suspects, including individuals sought for rape and child abuse. The Met says public support remains at around 80 per cent.

With around one million CCTV cameras across London, investigators face an unprecedented volume of footage. The Met says AI tools are already helping to reduce the workload. Early use across 23 major cases, including homicides, has cut review time by the equivalent of 454 officer days, allowing investigators to identify evidence and suspects more quickly.

City Hall supports expansion

“In London, the Met are leading the way in using the latest technology, including E-bikes, drones and Live Facial Recognition, to arrest dangerous criminals and tackle and prevent violence in the capital. We are proud to have backed the Met with record funding for the very latest technology to drive efficiencies and improve the performance and accountability of the police,” says London’s Deputy Mayor for Policing and Crime, Kaya Comer‑Schwartz. “This includes the largest roll-out of body worn video in the country, new IT platforms to significantly boost the police response to shoplifting offences and prosecutions, and a squadron of new e-bikes to tackle mobile phone theft, which is down by 14,000 in the past year.”