Tesla will stop selling its $8,000 Full Self-Driving (FSD) option and make it strictly a monthly subscription service after February 14, CEO Elon Musk announced on his X platform. Musk didn't reveal the price or why he's making the switch, though FSD is already available by subscription for $99 per month or $999 per year. 

The shift could be advantageous for buyers, particularly if they decide to dump their new Tesla or trade it in. It will also allow prospective owners to hedge their bets, as Tesla has overpromised on the feature since it was first announced. 

Full Self-Driving has never done what the name suggests as humans must constantly supervise the system and frequently take control. Because of that, it's more of a "driver assist" system and doesn't even qualify as Level 3 self-driving (conditional automation), let alone as a truly autonomous Level 4 or Level 5 category. Musk has been touting self-driving capabilities on Tesla vehicles since 2015, promising at the time "complete autonomy" by 2018. 

Branding for the system as "Autopilot" and "Full Self-Driving" has been called out as false advertising by consumer watchdogs and government for years, but so far, regulators have yet to take action. A California judge recently ruled that Tesla used "deceptive language to market Autopilot and recommended suspending Tesla's sales in the state for 30 days. However, the company has 90 days to comply and could still avoid punishment.  

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/transportation/evs/teslas-full-self-driving-is-switching-to-a-subscription-only-service-120053137.html?src=rss

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© Steve Dent for Engadget

Last month, Instagram began rolling out a new set of controls that allowed users to personalize the topics recommended to them by the Reels algorithm. Now, Meta is making that feature available to all English users of the app globally, along with the ability to highlight their top topics for the coming year. 

The feature begins with a selection of topics Meta's AI thinks you're interested in based on your recent activity, and has controls to remove them or add new categories. There's also a separate field for identifying what you want to see less of, and a new "build your 2026 algorithm" that allows you to highlight three topics in particular. 

Screenshot via Instagram

I don't yet have the 2026-specific control yet, but I was able to tweak some of my preferred topics and was surprised at how quickly the algorithm seemed to adjust. I added "snowboarding" as a topic and then later, when I clicked over to Reels, the first clip I saw was tagged "snowboarding." Unfortunately, the video wasn't actually about snowboarding — it featured a clip of a freestyle skiing event — so Meta's systems might still need a little work at classifying the actual content. But given how sensitive the Reels algorithm can be, it's nice to have a way of opting out of interests even if you briefly went down a  rabbit hole. 

The feature won't, however, let you ask to see fewer ads. I tried to add "ads" to my "what you want to see less of" list and received an error. "No results found. Try another topic or interest." I was able to successfully add "sponsored content" and "AI" to my "see less" list, though I'm pretty sure the latter will affect videos about AI rather than those made with the help of it.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/instagram-wants-you-to-personalize-your-reels-algorithm-for-2026-215252736.html?src=rss

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To comply with Australia's under-16 social media ban, Meta said on Medium that it has shut down nearly 550,00 accounts. That number includes 330,000 Instagram, 173,000 Facebook and 40,000 Threads accounts deemed to belong to children. "Ongoing compliance with the law will be a multi-layered process that we will continue to refine, though our concerns about determining age online without an industry standard remain," the company wrote. 

Australia's minimum age social media ban, the first of its kind in the world for a democracy, went into effect on December 10. The ten platforms affected, including Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, X, Reddit and Twitch, must bar underage users or face a fine of up to $AUD 49.5 million ($33 million). Platforms are using a variety of means to determine age, including age inference based on activity and selfies.

Some of those platforms aren't taking the ban lying down. Reddit, which launched a lawsuit against the Australian government, argued that it shouldn't have been included in the ban since it isn't a social media site, while adding that it comes with some "serious privacy and political expression issues" for users.

Meta also expressed its opposition to the ban, citing a number of factors. It says taking social media out of the hands of teens can isolate them from getting support from online communities, and that the ban is only driving them to "less regulated parts of the internet." It also sites inconsistent age verification methods and a lack of interest in compliance from teens and parents. 

However, the fact that Meta has removed almost 550,000 accounts just a month after the ban took affect shows that it is also affecting the company's bottom line. And Meta doesn't have a sterling record when it comes to teen safety, having previously downplayed the frequency of harm to children. 

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/social-media/meta-closes-550000-accounts-to-comply-with-australias-kids-social-media-ban-130041356.html?src=rss

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