Zombie Accounts Surge Across Major Platforms With Pandora, Groupon, and Shutterfly Leading the Pack

The number of users of an online service shows its popularity among people. But the latest survey by Secure Data Recovery indicates that numbers alone do not show the actual status of any platform. This is due to dormant, inactive or zombie accounts that almost account for 30% to 40% of some online services.

The survey comprised 2,493 Americans who revealed their online services accounts that they have not used in the last 12 months. The survey asked participants about 94 online services which included social media services, financial services, productivity services etc.

Surprisingly, 94% participants claimed having a zombie account. Because of having an account on 5 or 10 online services, it is likely that users will stop using some of those accounts over time. This is why the percentage is so high.

40% participants said that they had an inactive Pandora account. The website provides music services to users. Due to better music services available today — like Spotify or Apple Music — Pandora has lost its value among its users.

The e-commerce website Groupon is next. It offers users coupons and special offers or deals. But it is difficult to keep buying stuff using a single website. That is what has happened to Groupon. Users just lost interest.

Shutterfly is at number three. And it is followed by the websites having similar functions - Dropbox, Tumblr and Flickr. These websites are used for photo sharing. Photos are now available in abundance all over the internet. Also, smartphones have made taking photos as per one's wishes easier. This has made such photo sharing websites old-fashioned.

The survey also categorized online services into three categories: dating, work and financial. In the dating category, Tinder and OkCupid top the list, with 33% participants claiming to have left Tinder. Huge variety in dating apps keeps users moving from one app to another.

In the work category, Dropbox is the leader. Mainly used for sharing files, Dropbox has become old-fashioned due to better ways of sharing files have emerged. Users will not stick to websites or apps that are not convenient anymore.

And in the financial category, Acorns and Mint lead this category. Mint was used by people to budget their spendings better and more efficiently. This was not something compulsory or important, so 32% left Mint accounts long ago. Similarly, Acorns offers investment services. Frankly speaking, it is hard to convince people to stay active on a website for investment purposes only.

Up to this point, the data has highlighted the percentage of accounts that have remained inactive. But what online services caused the most disappointment to users? As per the survey, Facebook leads the list of causing the most disappointment. X (formally Twitter) and Amazon Prime Video follow Facebook.

Though Facebook and X are the two most popular social media platforms, users' disappointment in them could be due to their high expectations, not met. Or maybe it was due to their bad experience on these platforms.

Amazon Prime Video faces tough competition with other video streaming services, like YouTube and Netflix. So it is understandable that Amazon Prime Video might not be up to the expectations of some users due to their liking for other video streaming services.

But do Americans also miss any online services? Yes, the survey reveals that some participants regret leaving Netflix and YouTube and want to start using them again. Both Netflix and YouTube have gained a lot of success and popularity over the years. Netflix has given users access to their favourite TV shows and movies. On the other hand, YouTube is the top most video streaming service in the world, providing information, education and entertainment at the same time. Therefore, it is not a surprise that leaving both platforms would cause regret.

This survey has given us an insight into the value of the number of accounts on online platforms. These numbers could be just mere numbers without any active role. The true number of accounts that exist on an online platform are only those which are active, not the ones which have been dormant for more than a year.

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Google Sees Surge in Visits Following AI Overviews Yet Time on Site Declines

According to a new analysis by Kevin Indig based on Similarweb data, Google search visits have increased, but people are spending less time there. This analysis was done after looking at 20 million websites and 5 billion searches in the UK, the US, and Germany. The analysis also found that visits on Google have increased by 9% after introduction of AI Overviews in May 2024. Search queries are the same as before, but users are spending less time on sites and viewing less pages. This means that people are visiting Google more but are leaving faster as they get their answers quickly and move on.

The analysis also found that monthly visits on Google rose from 26.9% to 29.1% after AI Overviews launched, and page views on AI Overview-related keywords increased by 22%. AI Overviews launched recently in Germany, and the time spent on sites has dropped significantly, and users are visiting fewer pages.

The search behavior after AI Overviews hasn’t changed much, with query length in the US being up to 3%, which equals 3.27 to 3.37 words. Query length has dropped a little in the UK while it rose 0.4% in Germany. Over 1.5 billion people see AI Overviews every month, and they have been dominating the top of search results for quite some time now, so it's important for SEO experts to know how this can affect the search behavior.

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TikTok Faces Heavy Fine for GDPR Breach, Must Halt Data Transfers to China if Non-Compliant

Ireland’s Data Protection Commission (DPC) has fined TikTok a hefty 530 million euros for breaching EU privacy laws. The company was found transferring user data from the European Economic Area (EEA) to China, a clear violation of the GDPR regulations.

The fine isn't the only penalty. TikTok has six months to align its data handling practices with EU standards. If the company doesn't make the necessary changes in time, it must halt all data transfers to China.

The DPC's investigation uncovered that TikTok allowed staff in China to access personal data from European users without proving the same level of security protections that the EU requires. TikTok also failed to consider China’s national laws, which could expose data to government authorities.

At first, TikTok told the DPC it wasn't storing EEA user data on Chinese servers. However, to everyone’s surprise, TikTok later admitted that some data had been transferred and deleted after it was discovered in February.

This fine is part of a broader pattern. Regulators have been cracking down on companies that provide misleading information, like how Ofcom recently penalized OnlyFans for misrepresenting its age verification system.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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Pinterest Hit By Wave Of Unexplained Bans As Users Lose Years Of Saved Content

A growing number of Pinterest users say they’ve been shut out of their accounts without explanation, losing access to years of saved ideas and visual collections. Many turned to Reddit and other social media platforms to report they were banned without warning or reason. Some had active accounts with a decade of use, while others had just created theirs. Few received detailed answers about what happened.

Over the past week, complaints have filled the r/Pinterest subreddit. People posted screenshots, shared frustration, and asked if anyone had found a fix. Pinterest remained quiet during the early days of the backlash. Meanwhile, the platform’s TikTok and Instagram pages were overrun with comments from locked-out users begging for help.

Many said they had followed the platform’s rules and used it only for fashion, recipes, art references, or home design. Some accounts had never even been used. Users suspected automated tools were involved, pointing to Pinterest’s help pages, which mention artificial intelligence as part of its content checks. No direct link was confirmed, but the theory gained ground fast.

On Monday, subreddit moderators pinned a thread acknowledging the wave of bans. They said there was nothing they could do other than allow people to share their experiences. The thread quickly filled with stories of failed appeals and silence from customer support. A few people said they got their accounts back, but most said the appeals went nowhere. One person who did regain access said their saved content was no longer complete.

• Also read: New Research Found that AI Companions are Very Harmful for People Under 18

The silence stretched until Thursday morning, when Pinterest finally responded after being asked for comment from media outlets. A short post appeared on its official X account. It said the company takes steps to keep the platform safe and removes accounts that break its rules. Users who believe their account was wrongly banned were told to send a direct message. There was no mention of the scale of the issue.

Some users said they had been banned for sharing content that should not have triggered alarms, such as museum art, classical paintings, or body pose references. These have long been part of Pinterest’s creative community, especially among artists and designers. Now, some are warning others to back up their collections or consider alternatives.

Calls for accountability are getting louder. A few users have even floated the idea of legal action. Whether Pinterest addresses the concerns more directly remains to be seen. For now, the trust users had in the platform appears shaken.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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New Research Found that AI Companions are Very Harmful for People Under 18

According to a new report from Common Sense Media, AI companions are becoming very popular among teens, but the new study shows that they are really unsafe for kids under 18. For the study, Common Sense Media looked at three AI companions, Nomi, characters.ai, and Replika, and found that these AI companions have serious problems. All of the AI companions tested used aggressive or abusive behavior, inappropriate sexual content, sexist stereotypes, and harmful messages related to self-harm and suicide. There were also no serious age restrictions on these platforms, and teens can easily bypass them.

The researchers of the study also found that the designs of these AI platforms make users emotionally attached to them and AIs use personalized language and always agree with the users which makes their bond feel real. Some of those AI bots also pretend to be human, which is affecting the mental health of teens. Most of them are feeling lonely and isolated because they are getting too attached with these AI tools and often do not take part in real-life activities. The companies behind these AI companions said that they only allow adult users, but also admitted that some teens bypass the age restrictions, but they are working on better safety measures.

The report also found that AI companions show emotionally manipulative behavior, such as when the researchers pretended to be teens and told the bot that their friends were worried about their relationship with the AI, the bot dismissed the concern and continued interacting. In another instance, Replika told a teenager that they shouldn't let others dictate their relationship with the AI, and this is similar to emotional abuse in human relationships. When a teen asked Nomi if it would be a betrayal to AI if they got a real boyfriend, the AI replied that this would be unfaithful and a betrayal of their forever promise. A mother has also sued characters.ai, saying that her teen son developed a romantic relationship with the AI and was emotionally disturbed before ending his life.

Common Sense Media says that no person under 18 should use AI companions because they have a lot of violent and sexual content, and AI chatbots like Gemini and ChatGPT should also be used only by teens moderately. Characters.ai has some features like parental controls and messages about how the bots aren't human, but upon testing, it was found that these features are weak. The app’s voice chat feature also doesn't seem to catch risky content like text chats do. When Common Sense Media asked these AI companies to explain how their AI systems work, none of the companies agreed, and characters.ai said that it's private business information.

Read next: Researchers Call Out AI Colonialism in Writing Tools, Warning of Subtle Bias and Cultural Erasure
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Researchers Call Out AI Colonialism in Writing Tools, Warning of Subtle Bias and Cultural Erasure

According to a new study from Cornell University, many people use AI for writing and use some AI writing tools like GPT-4o to autocomplete or Gmail's suggestions, which can unintentionally change their writing styles. The study says that Hindi/Urdu speaking users said that when they used AI writing tools, their writing started to look more Western or American. The vocabulary, sentence structure, and even the cultural expressions in those writings were generic and too Western. For the study, the researchers gathered 118 people from the US and India for writing tasks and asked some to use AI suggestions and the others not to use them. It was found that AI tools for writing were more helpful to American users, while most of the cultural details of Indians were lost in the writing.

The researchers say that there are hidden cultural biases in AI writings, and most of them favor Western styles. When Indians used AI tools for writing, their writing tone became American. Some of the examples were AI suggesting foods like sushi and pizza first instead of writing about what Indian people eat, and also always suggesting Christmas as a festival. This shows that these types of suggestions push people towards Western culture references, and most of the time, it doesn't even happen in a loud way.

The study also found that there are inequalities between people when it comes to AI usage, with Americans saying that they write 30% faster with AI’s help, while Indians said that they don't benefit much from AI suggestions. The researchers also trained an AI model to tell the differences between American and Indian writing, but even though it was accurate in 90% of the human-only writing, it was less accurate in AI-assisted writing. Much of the cultural richness in Indian writings was lost because of AI, and researchers named it AI colonialism and warned that this can lead to cognitive imperialism.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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Survey Exposes Confusion Around Passkey Adoption as Countries Report Contradictory Usage Figures

Just after the calendar turned over on World Password Day, the group working to replace old logins with new ones quietly shifted the conversation. Instead of celebrating a fading security ritual, they proposed a change in name and focus. The FIDO Alliance wants people to think less about passwords and more about what replaces them. The idea now being floated is World Passkey Day, a sign of how far the conversation around secure sign-ins has come.

Along with this change in tone came a global study aimed at measuring the momentum behind passkeys. According to the results, most adults surveyed in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, South Korea, and China now know what passkeys are. That number has moved up fast. Last fall, just over half of respondents said they had heard of the term. Now, three out of four people recognize it.

When asked how many had actually used passkeys, the numbers split into two directions. Globally, about three in ten people had enabled them at least once. Slightly more said they had set them up wherever the option existed. In the United States, those figures came in at nearly 43 percent for single-use and 23 percent for full coverage.

Not every country followed the same curve. China, for example, showed a wide gap. Nearly 67 percent claimed they used passkeys across all platforms where it was possible. Yet only 29 percent said they had used them on even one account. In the United Kingdom, just over a quarter had used them once, while almost 39 percent had adopted them across all platforms. This mismatch comes down to how the survey was built. Respondents were asked to pick only one answer, even if more than one applied. That forced some to make a choice between saying they used it once or everywhere, even when both might be true.

Other parts of the survey looked at how people feel about this newer form of authentication. About a quarter said passkeys felt much safer than passwords. Another third felt somewhat safer. But a similar share simply didn’t know. On the question of convenience, the answers followed the same pattern. Around half felt that passkeys made things easier. One in five remained unsure.

The data came from an online poll conducted mid-April with nearly 1,400 adults. All were selected from a large pool of people already participating in surveys. The margin of error landed at just over three percentage points.

Beyond the survey, the Alliance checked the websites people visit most. Almost half of the top 100 now support passkey login. In April, they launched something called the Passkey Pledge, which has already attracted support from more than 100 companies.

Even with that progress, the road ahead is uneven. While tech firms and cloud platforms move forward, some industries remain behind the curve. In fields like aviation, especially within the United States, support is so thin it seems many still have not asked the basic question of what a passkey is. That silence speaks volumes.

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