Karissa Bell

Senior Editor

Karissa is a senior reporter at Engadget, covering Meta, Twitter, TikTok, Snap and all things social media. Her interests include tech policy, internet culture, and all the ways our online activities shape our IRL selves. Prior to joining Engadget she was a senior reporter at Mashable, where she spent six years reporting on social media platforms, Apple, Google and other Big Tech companies. Before she took on the social media beat full-time, she wrote about apps and developers for Macworld and Wired, and was an early contributor to The Wirecutter. Karissa has appeared on panels at SXSW, CES and numerous other tech conferences, and is a frequent guest on the Engadget Podcast. Send her story tips and horror movie recommendations at karissa.bell@engadget.com.

Articles by Karissa Bell

Why is Threads recommending these weird spammy posts from people looking for 'friends'?
Some Threads users are starting to notice another type of strange post appear in their suggestions: posts from random people looking for "friends."
Threads will start telling users when their posts are demoted
Meta is bringing its “Account Status” feature to Threads, which will enable people to see when the company has removed or demoted posts or handed out other penalties.
What we’ve learned from the FTC v. Meta antitrust trial
FTC v. Meta is unlikely to be fully settled anytime soon, the trial has successfully uncovered tons of new details about the inner workings of the social media company.
LinkedIn wants you to tell its AI about your dream job
LinkedIn is rolling out a new set of AI-powered upgrades to its job-searching features.
Meta wins more than $167 million in damages from spyware maker that targeted WhatsApp
A jury has ruled that the company behind the infamous Pegasus spyware must pay Meta more than $167 million in damages for spreading malware via WhatsApp.
Reddit will integrate AI Answers into its main search bar
Reddit will make AI search more prominent by adding it into the site's main search bar. CEO Steve Huffman said.
Meta is a mulling ads and a 'premium' version of its AI assistant, Mark Zuckerberg says
Mark Zuckerberg has shared more about how the company plans to eventually monetize its generative AI assistant.
Meta has a plan to bring AI to WhatsApp chats without breaking privacy
Meta shared that it’s working on something called “Private Processing,” which will allow users to take advantage of generative AI capabilities within WhatsApp without eroding its privacy features.
Researchers secretly experimented on Reddit users with AI-generated comments
Researchers ran an unsanctioned experiment using AI in Reddit's r/changemyview that its mioderators are calling "psychological manipulation."
Threads is moving to threads.com and adding a bunch of new web features
Meta is finally making Threads.com the default domain for Threads' web app.
Meta finally acknowledges that Facebook has a major spam problem
Meta says it plans to start “cracking down” on Facebook spam and will penalize the worst offenders.
Instagram's former CEO testifies Zuckerberg thought the app was a ‘threat’ to Facebook
Facebook acquired Instagram in 2012 for $1 billion, but tensions between Mark Zuckerberg and the app’s founders persisted for years afterward.
Instagram is rolling out Edits, its CapCut competitor
Meta's Edits app is finally rolling out as the company continues to try to lure more TikTok creators to its apps.
Teens are becoming more worried about the effects of social media
A growing number of teens say that social media is harmful and takes up too much of their time, according to a new report from Pew Research.
Bluesky is getting blue checkmarks and an official verification system
Bluesky plans to grant blue checkmarks to “authentic and notable” accounts.
Instagram now lets you combine your Reels recommendations with friends
Instagram is rolling out “Blend,” a feature that allows you to create a custom feed within a DM that combines your recommendations with a friend’s.
TikTok is adding Footnotes, its take on Community Notes
TikTok is adding “Footnotes,” a Community Notes-like feature that will allow contributors to add “more context” to videos on the platform.
Meta brings ‘teen accounts’ to Facebook and Messenger
Like on Instagram, Meta will begin automatically moving younger teens to to "teen accounts."
Meta is entering its post-truth era on Monday
Meta has set an end date for fact-checking on Facebook, Instagram and Threads (at least for its US users).
'Careless People' author Sarah Wynn-Williams will testify at a Senate hearing next week
Sarah Wynn-Williams, the former Facebook policy director behind a best-selling memoir about her time at the company, will testify at a Senate Judiciary subcommittee hearing next week.

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