Instant messaging

Form of computer communication over the internet or locally

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We include updates on Snapchat, Discord, IMessage, Chatbot, Kik Messenger, Vault 7, Google Messages, Contact list, XMPP, Arabic chat alphabet, Tinychat, Google Wave, Skype for Business, Mattermost, Zimbra, Gitter ... and more.

April 2025
Discord
Jason Citron announced he was stepping down as Discord's CEO, with Humam Sakhnini taking over, in preparation for potentially making the company publicly traded.
March 2025
Discord
Discord released a Social SDK to allow games to incorporate Discord's social features and facilitate in-game communications between Discord and non-Discord users.
November 2024
Snapchat
The NSPCC reported that Snapchat was the most popular app amongst online groomers, based on police statistics, highlighting significant safety concerns for children using the platform.
October 8 2024
Discord
Turkey blocked Discord, following a decision by the Ankara 1st Criminal Court of Peace.
October 8 2024
Discord
Russia officially blocked access to the Discord platform.
September 2024
Discord
The Federal Trade Commission released a report analyzing data collection practices of 9 tech companies, including Discord, highlighting concerns about user and non-user data practices that could potentially expose individuals to various risks such as identity theft, stalking, discrimination, and mental health issues.
September 2024
Discord
Russian regulator Roskomnadzor demanded Discord remove 947 posts containing illegal content and imposed a 3.5 million roubles (USD$37,493) fine.
September 2024
Snapchat
The FTC released a report examining 9 companies' data collection practices, including Snapchat's, highlighting potential risks to users related to data privacy, including vulnerability to identity theft, stalking, discrimination, and potential mental health impacts.
April 1 2024
Discord
On April Fool's Day, Discord accidentally broke the YouTube 24-hour view record with a looping announcement video, though the views were later removed.
March 2024
Discord
A joint investigation by The Washington Post, Wired, Der Spiegel, and Recorder exposed extensive child grooming, sexual abuse, and murder conducted by the group 764 on Discord, spanning cases in Germany, United States, and Romania.
January 2024
Discord
Discord laid off 170 employees (17% of staff) after a five-fold increase in employees between 2020 and 2024.
2023
Discord
The Midjourney server became the largest Discord server, surpassing 15 million members.
2023
Discord
Discord paused its server verification program for maintenance.
2023
Snapchat
Snapchat was predominantly used by users between 18 and 24 years old, with an app store age classification of 12+.
2023
Snapchat
Snapchat reached over 300 million monthly active users, demonstrating significant growth in its user base.
October 2023
Discord
Discord added Avatar Decorations and Profile Themes to their Shop, allowing users to purchase animated decorations for their profiles.
August 2023
Discord
Discord laid off 40 employees (4% of staff) as part of a restructuring effort.
June 2023
Discord
Discord launched Media Channels, which are exclusively restricted to videos and images.
June 2023
Discord
NBC News reported 35 cases of adults being charged with kidnapping, grooming, or sexual assault involving the Discord platform, and identified 165 cases of prosecution for child sexual exploitation material sharing.
May 2023
Discord
Discord transitioned from its discriminator-based username system to a new handle-based system, requiring all users to select new usernames and removing the four-digit tag.
May 2023
Discord
Discord made most stickers free to all users, discontinued the ability to purchase stickers, and refunded users who had previously purchased them.
April 2023
Snapchat
Snapchat made the customizable 'My AI' chatbot accessible to all users within the app.
March 29 2023
HCL Sametime
Release of HCL Sametime and HCL Sametime Premium 12.0.1 Fix Pack 1 (FP1)
February 2023
Snapchat
Snapchat launched 'My AI', a custom ChatGPT-based chatbot for Snapchat+ users.
January 2023
Snapchat
The Federal Bureau Investigation launched a probe into Snapchat concerning the sale of fake pills following the National Crime Prevention Council's letter.
2022
Discord
Discord released an official 'app directory' to allow server owners to easily add bots to their servers directly within the Discord platform.
December 2022
Snapchat
The National Crime Prevention Council wrote to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland, urging an examination of Snapchat's business practices regarding the sale of fake pills containing lethal amounts of fentanyl.
November 2022
Discord
The CNIL fined Discord €800,000 for GDPR violations related to data protection and user privacy.
November 15 2022
HCL Sametime
Release of HCL Sametime and HCL Sametime Premium version 12.0.1
October 2022
Discord
Discord replaced the 'Discord Nitro Classic' subscription tier with a new 'Discord Nitro Basic' tier priced at $2.99, offering a subset of features from the $9.99 'Nitro' tier.
September 2022
Discord
Discord launched Forum Channels, bringing an Internet forum-like experience to the platform and allowing for longer, separate conversations.
August 2022
Snapchat
Announced discontinuation of all original scripted content with no plans for future development.
August 2022
Snapchat
Snapchat ended all projects related to its original programming, discontinuing the Snap Originals initiative.
August 2022
Snapchat
Snap launched the 'Family Center' feature, enabling parents to monitor their children's (ages 13-18) app activity.
July 2022
Snapchat
Snapchat introduced the 'Friend Solar System' feature (Snapchat Planets) within a month of launching Snapchat+, allowing users to visualize best friends as ranked planets.
June 2022
Snapchat
Snapchat announced plans to launch Snapchat Plus, a paid subscription model offering early access to features and additional customization options.
May 2022
Discord
Payton S. Gendron used a private Discord server as a diary while preparing for a race-driven mass shooting in Buffalo, New York. The server was deleted by moderators shortly after the shooting, and the New York state attorney general's office launched an investigation into Discord's content moderation practices.
April 28 2022
HCL Sametime
Announcement of HCL Sametime Premium v12 with secure video meetings and persistent chat
March 2022
Discord
Discord reached a global workforce of 600 employees and was ranked as the 30th most visited website worldwide.
March 2022
Snapchat
Georgia Supreme Court ruled that Snapchat must face claims about the defective design of the speed filter application.
March 15 2022
HCL Sametime
HCL Sametime 11.6 Interim Fix 2 (IF2) released
January 2022
Discord
The British anti-disinformation organization Logically reported the presence of Holocaust denial, neo-Nazism, and hate speech on Discord groups associated with the German website Disclose.tv.
2021
Discord
Discord had at least 350 million registered users across web and mobile platforms, with 56 million monthly active users sending 25 billion messages per month.
2021
Discord
Snowsgiving 2021, an official Discord-controlled server for the winter holiday season, became the largest known Discord server at the time, reaching 1 million members.
October 2021
Discord
Discord discontinued the Stage Discovery tool, which previously allowed users to search for open Stage Channels of interest.
September 2021
Discord
Discord secured additional investments and reported tripled revenues from the previous year.
September 2021
Discord
Google sent cease and desist notices to popular music bots Groovy and Rythm. Discord subsequently partnered with YouTube to test a 'Watch Together' feature.
August 2021
Discord
Discord introduced Threads, temporary text channels that can automatically disappear, designed to enhance communication within servers.
July 2021
Discord
Discord acquired Sentropy, an internet moderation company.
June 2021
Discord
Discord introduced a new profile feature allowing users to add an 'about me' section and a custom colored banner to their user profiles.

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This contents of the box above is based on material from the Wikipedia articles Discord, HCL Sametime & Snapchat, which are released under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

See Also