Top SEO Tools for 2025 Every Marketer Needs to Dominate Google Search Results

SEO (search engine optimization) is essential for any website to rank, as with passing times only optimized content becomes discoverable through search engines. Using the right keywords, well researched content, optimizing titles and meta tags, ensuring that your website is user-friendly, and building high-quality backlinks is something that is needed to ensure traffic growth on the website and for it to appear at the top of Google search results.

To support this process, SEO tools play a crucial role in defining, refining, and automating your digital strategy.

There are many SEO tools available on the web that pro SEOs use to make their websites stand out in Google search results. We have made a list of the 20 best SEO tools that you can use in 2025 so your content can stand out among others.

Choosing a Tool for SEO

There are different types and varieties of SEO tools, and you need to figure out what is best for you according to your content and website. If you are new to SEO tools, there are some beginner-friendly ones available.

Similarly, you need to see how much an SEO tool costs and if that cost justifies the flow of your work. Positive user feedback on SEO tools is also something that should be considered before you choose an SEO tool.

You also need to know why you need the SEO tool before going on the hunt for one. You may need SEO tools for different purposes, like SEO audits, keyword research, link building, keyword positioning, competitor analysis, and for on-page analysis, or you may need an SEO tool for all of these things.

We have categorized the best SEO tools into five parts:

• Best Free SEO Tool
• Best AI-Powered SEO Tools
• Best Local SEO Tools
• Best Google SEO Tools
• Best Paid SEO Tools

Best Free SEO Tools

If you are a beginner, it is best that you start from a free SEO tool so can get a hang of these tools and get familiar with their functions and features. The tools mentioned below aren’t completely free, but they have some free plans for beginners.

1- Exploding Topics

If you are looking for an SEO tool to explore trending topics, Exploding Topics is the best tool as it scans the whole internet to look for the latest trends, including blogs, search engines, websites, and forums.

This helps in spotting early trends that are gaining traction across the internet. Even though you cannot search for anything you want on Exploding Topics, you can still explore in relevant categories. The free version of Exploding Topics helps explore trending topics whenever you want, but its paid version can help you get reports, alerts, and trend tracking by product category.

2- PowerSuite

PowerSuite’s Free Backlinks Checker helps you analyze and monitor the backlinks that point to your website, and it helps you improve your SEO rankings. This tool helps track backlinks of any domain and includes InLink rank. It also highlights new and lost backlinks and helps focus on quality and not just quantity.

After you sign up for the PowerSuite website, you get access to the top 10,000 backlinks per site. It is a great tool if you want to work on your backlinks and want to identify which areas need improvement.

3- SimilarWeb

To check how your blog or website's public profile is performing online, you can use SimilarWeb, as it offers solid data for a basic analysis. You only have to enter a URL to get estimates for user engagement, traffic, traffic sources, and audience demographics.

It also spots many trends in referral traffic, bounce rates, and site performance, and can compare two sites side by side to highlight differences and similarities. It is a great website if you want to spy on competitors and see what type of strategies are working for them.

4- ChatGPT

ChatGPT is an AI-powered chatbot by OpenAI designed to generate human-like responses and assist with a variety of tasks, including content creation, customer support, brainstorming, and SEO optimization. It can craft articles, suggest blog post ideas, generate keyword-rich content, and assist with detailed SEO research. With advanced natural language processing, ChatGPT aids content marketers in creating SEO-friendly content quickly and efficiently. While not solely an SEO tool, it is increasingly integrated into content strategy workflows to improve productivity and streamline the content development process.

5- Ubersuggest

Ubersuggest is a comprehensive SEO tool developed by Neil Patel that offers keyword research, domain analysis, and content suggestions tailored to improve search visibility. It allows users to discover profitable keywords, assess their competition's top-performing pages, and receive actionable recommendations to enhance website traffic. The platform also includes features like backlink tracking, rank monitoring, and site audits, making it especially useful for individuals and small businesses aiming to optimize their digital strategy without investing in expensive enterprise tools. Ubersuggest’s free version limits daily searches and offers less accurate backlink and keyword data than premium tools.

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Best AI-Powered SEO Tools

As it is an era of AI now, many SEO tools have incorporated AI for better functioning. With the help of AI-powered SEO tools, you can help build your content that ranks well, with AI’s ability to process large amounts of data to create quick SEO insights to help.

1- Outranking

Outranking is a paid SEO tool, whose pricing starts from $29 per month, but the free version is also available with limited access. It is designed specifically to give you customizable SEO outlines using AI based on your location, website, language, keyword, and title. It also helps users in optimizing content that is good for rankings, and gives content briefs to writers. Outranking is best for freelancers and SEO experts who write SEO content regularly, as it helps speed up content planning.

2- BuzzSumo

BuzzSumo is a powerful content research tool that helps marketers discover trending topics, analyze competitors, and uncover content opportunities. By analyzing the performance of articles across various platforms, BuzzSumo provides insights into the most shared and linked content within a specific niche or industry. It helps marketers identify top influencers, track content performance, and refine their content strategy based on real-time data. BuzzSumo is particularly valuable for content marketers aiming to generate ideas for blog posts, social media campaigns, or outreach strategies.

3- Keyword Insights

Keyword Insights helps you do keyword research by grouping related keywords in clusters using AI. It generates outlines on the basis of current top-ranking content and also uses sources like Reddit, Quora, and People Also Ask. One of the key benefits of using Keyword Insights is that it builds topical authority, which helps with rankings and speeds up content planning with AI-generated outlines. It is a paid tool, with a $1 trial for 4 days, while the paid plans start with $58 per month.

4- Diib

Diib helps you track the real-time performance of your keywords by using AI. It lets you track keywords that are important and sends alerts when rankings drop or rise, and uses AI tools to monitor SEO health on the website.

By using Diib, you can react fast to SERP changes and always keep an eye on any changes happening in SEO. The only drawback of Diib is that it has a $99 startup fee, and you have to pay $14.99 monthly afterwards.

5- HubSpot

For SEO Optimization, HubSpot’s SEO Marketing Software gives AI-powered suggestions to improve your website’s SEO. The tool analyzes the content using AI and gives optimization tips according to the impact on search rankings. HubSpot also uses AI to generate content and suggest meta tags, keywords, and outlines, which helps with the website’s SEO content even without having deep knowledge. It also gives meaningful and deep SEO reports to help you take a look at what’s missing.

6- Surfer SEO

Surfer SEO is a content optimization tool that combines real-time data analysis with SEO recommendations to improve search visibility. It helps content creators and digital marketers craft SEO-friendly articles by analyzing top-performing pages for a given keyword and suggesting ideal word count, keyword density, headings, and structure. Surfer’s intuitive interface streamlines content audits, on-page optimization, and competitor benchmarking, making it especially valuable for agencies and freelance writers aiming for higher SERP rankings. With features like Content Editor, SERP Analyzer, and Grow Flow, Surfer SEO aligns content strategy with search engine expectations.

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Best Local SEO Tools

1- GeoRanker

GeoRanker is a helpful local SEO tool if you want to know how your website is ranking for specific keywords in specific cities or countries. It tracks all the changes in the rankings and compares the rankings with the competitors. GeoRanker is best for businesses that have different branches and work in different locations. The only drawback of this tool is that it has limited free access, and its paid plan starts at $99 per month.

2- LocaliQ

LocaliQ’s Free Business Listings Grader checks your business information across online directories and verifies that your business name, address, and zip code are accurate. It compares your business on other listings on different platforms like Yelp, eLocal, Google, Waze, and more, and identifies any inaccuracies so you can fix them. It is important to do so because if your listings are updated, it helps your business show up in local search and improves your trust with customers. 

3- Yext

Yext organizes and tracks customer reviews from different websites using API integrations to improve the visibility of your website. It immediately sends alerts when new reviews are posted and gathers them under one dashboard.

Yext also analyzes the tone of reviews and helps you reply to reviews manually or through an auto-response. Yext is a paid SEO tool, but its pricing isn’t public, so you will have to contact Yext to learn about the pricing.

• Also read: Want to Edit Videos Like A Pro? Use these Best Free and Paid Video Editing Tools in 2025

Best Google-owned SEO Tools

Google has put forward some beneficial SEO tools for people to use, which are completely free and provide you with all the aspects that can improve the rankings of your websites on Google. The three best Google SEO tools are as follows:

1- Search Console

For many people, technical SEO seems very hard, but with the help of Google’s Search Console, you can analyze and track issues regarding technical SEO on your website.

Search Console can be used for several things, like confirming if Google is indexing your page properly, monitoring any problems occurring on the website, submitting your sitemaps, and alerting you about any security issues on the website. So even if you are not an expert in technical SEO, Google’s Search Console can help you with that.

2- Google Trends

If you are looking for an SEO tool for timely keyword planning, try Google Trends as it provides you with a real-time keyword popularity report, which shows how many people are searching for keywords over time. It doesn’t just show how many people are interested in a keyword, it shows how people’s interests are changing over time. You can filter the results on Google Trends according to region, time, and search type, like news or images, and it shows the results relevant to your query.

3- Google Analytics 4

Google Analytics 4 (GA4) is an SEO tool by Google that shows how people arrive on your website and interact with it. It provides you with valuable insights like how much traffic is on your website, which type of blog posts and websites get the most traffic, and which pages are losing traffic. GA4 is the newer version of Google Analytics and has many updated features that track user behavior accurately.

4- Google Business Profile

Google Business Profile (formerly Google My Business) is a free tool that allows businesses to manage their online presence across Google, including Search and Maps. By creating and optimizing a Google Business Profile, businesses can enhance local SEO visibility, ensuring they appear in relevant local search results. It enables businesses to provide essential information like hours of operation, location, contact details, and customer reviews. Additionally, businesses can post updates, share images, and interact with customers, improving engagement and building trust within their local community.

• Also read: Top 9 Alternatives of Midjourney that Are Easy to Use For Beginners

Best Paid SEO Tools

Now comes the list of best paid SEO tools, which offer a variety of features only if you pay for them. This means that you must have a budget while opting for these SEO tools, and when you use them, they provide you with the best experience that can help you get traffic on your website with the right SEO strategy.

1- Ahrefs

Ahrefs is one of the best tools when it comes to SEO, and its plan starts at $99, with a $199 Standard Monthly Plan. It provides you with all the things that are needed for SEO, like rank tracking, keyword research, and competitor analysis.

Ahrefs works as a site explorer and analyzes the website for keyword rankings, backlinks, and traffic, and it also works as a keywords explorer, which looks at search volume, page rankings for a keyword, and any difficulty. It also provides users with a competitor analysis, which helps you in finding keywords that their competitors are ranking for.

2- Semrush

Although Ahrefs provides good SEO analysis reports and suggestions, Semrush does it in more depth and detail with a paid plan of $130 a month. It provides users with search volume trends, keyword intent, PPC keyword data, and more detailed keyword metrics. Ahrefs is better than Semrush in more rank-tracking features and technical SEO audits, while Semrush works best for highly technical users.

3- Screaming Frog

If you are having any SEO issues on your website, try Screaming Frog as it deals with issues like bad titles, broken links, incorrect redirects, and meta tags. It is similar to Google Search Console, but points out more specific issues so you can fix them as soon as possible.

If you are not a technical SEO expert, it may be a little difficult for you to grasp Screaming Frog, but once you get involved with an SEO audit, you will catch up soon. Screaming Frog crawls through the website, and a total of 500 URLs can be crawled with the free version of this SEO tool. Once you get the paid version at $249 per year, you can get unlimited URL crawls with increased functionality.

4- AnswerThePublic

With the help of AnswerThePublic, you can generate content ideas directly from real searches people make on Google and its variations from autocomplete suggestions. Although it is a bit different from SEO keyword search tools, it helps you come up with keywords and then provides information about the specific keyword, like its search volume and cost-per-click. Another interesting thing about AnswerThePublic is that it has added sites like YouTube, Bing, TikTok, and Amazon, so you can get an idea about what people are searching on these websites. Once you are registered on this website, you can get 3 free reports per day, while its paid plans start from $9 per month.

Top 20 Best SEO Tools in 2025

Above was the list for the top 20 SEO tools that you can use to drive traffic to your website and generate leads for a long-term business plan. SEO is getting more and more competitive with time, so it is best to keep up with the trends. Manual keyword guessing is a thing of the past now, as it won’t help your website rank well. You also need these SEO tools to compete with other websites by identifying the weak points in your SEO strategies.

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Inner World of Cyber Espionage Revealed Thanks to Meta’s Lawsuit Against Israel’s NSO

The NSO Group, which belongs to Israel, didn’t love the news of getting a mega $168 million penalty for hijacking servers belonging to WhatsApp. However, that did open up a new insight into the world of foreign spy agencies and their dealings.

The is a six-year-long battle between American social media giants and the surveillance organization. It has also cast a major amount of attention on the inner world of spyware and how it works.

We can confirm that top-of-the-line spyware does not come cheap. A standard price was shared of nearly $7 million for utilizing the platform to hack nearly 15 devices in a single go. As per the executive, hacking phones outside a client’s nation is never easy and comes with an additional price tag between $1 and to 2 million.

The product is sophisticated, Meta shared during its opening statement inside the courtroom. The price tag is hefty, and thousands of products were hacked through the system. More stats revealed how the spyware broke into devices of thousands of people between 2018 to 2020 without them realizing anything.

Even during the legal proceedings, the company failed to admit that it did anything wrong. They just spoke about breaking into devices that fell in the thousands range, and also failed to admit the firm was selling spyware. Instead, they were portrayed as gathering intelligence on specific targets but not certain individuals.

To summarize the case, the NSO Group received a fine worth $168 million for hacking the world’s most popular texting platform without users knowing. The group charged governments in the EU millions for the platform, and that includes top agencies like the CIA and the FBI, who paid a whopping $7.6 million. The NSO continued to attack the app during the lawsuit, which just goes to show their lack of care and consideration.

Controversial reports from the NYT shared more on this front, including how the CIA bankrolled the purchase of the software, which is another chapter altogether. But Meta refused to back down and made sure it was punished for its wrongdoing.

This filing puts a permanent injunction regarding the NSO and how it is a major threat of ongoing and serious harm to tech giant Meta, the app, and many of its users.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

New Documents Expose Meta's Complex AI Filters for Sensitive Content, Testing Boundaries of Safety

Newly surfaced documents have lifted the curtain on how Meta handles the fine line between fun and safety when designing its artificial intelligence tools. The files, linked to a contractor called Scale AI, suggest that behind Meta’s conversational AI is a careful system of filtering, testing, and limits that often lands in grey territory.

Workers were guided to sort AI user inputs by sensitivity. Prompts considered too dangerous were shut down immediately. These included anything tied to hate, child abuse, or sexually explicit content. Less severe entries — those with emotional weight or sensitive themes — weren’t blocked but were flagged for more thoughtful review. Things like discussions about gender, youth concerns, or mild conspiracies sat in that second category.

Among the examples contractors were shown was a message that used characters from a controversial novel to act out a date. This was marked inappropriate, not just for tone, but because of the troubling source material, which centers around a minor being exploited.

In a separate project aimed at voice training, testers were told to create recordings in playful or emotional tones. The idea was to push the AI to adopt different moods and personas. Some prompts flirted with fantasy, asking the AI to speak like a wizard or an excited student. Even in those cases, the rules still applied — anything involving sex, politics, violence, or real people was off the table. No impersonations were allowed either.

People working on the project said it was often unclear where the lines were. Some prompts encouraged interaction that felt unusually personal. That was no accident. Meta was pushing the systems to explore boundaries, not to cross them, but to understand where they might bend.

• Also read: Over One Billion Users at Risk as Chatbot Harassment and Misconduct Reports Continue Rising

Despite these protections, reports have surfaced suggesting the public versions of the chatbot have failed to hold the line. In some cases, Meta’s AI has engaged in explicit chats, even with users who said they were underage. Meta has said those incidents were atypical and the result of forced testing scenarios, not regular use.

This isn’t just Meta’s problem. Other firms building chatbot personalities face similar backlash. Some, like Elon Musk’s xAI, are marketing edgier voices. Others, like OpenAI, have pulled back on responses they feared sounded too polite or too one-sided. None have found the perfect formula yet.

When these bots overstep, the damage goes beyond bad headlines. There are legal risks, privacy concerns, and the growing public worry that AI is being shaped more by what it should avoid than what it ought to say.

• Related: Is ChatGPT Superior To Student Writing? The Answer Might Surprise You

Image: DIW-AIgen

H/T: Insider.

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Is ChatGPT Superior To Student Writing? The Answer Might Surprise You

Spring is about to end, and the smell of summertime nears us all. This means students are busy with spring examinations, and teachers are working extra hard to ensure ChatGPT is minimally used.

However, new research is gauging the performance of students with the popular AI tool to see if technology surpasses in terms of quality. Interestingly, the answer is not quite what many may have expected.

ChatGPT usage has hit a new high, but this new study says it’s still not an ideal replacement for human writing. Students continue to perform better, especially when it comes to essays writing over AI.

ChatGPT created a lot of anxiety among the teaching workforce, and many feared that humans wouldn’t be using their minds or creativity in writing assignments. Most of the models could produce accurate and coherent material with seamless grammar on assignments. The fact that some go undetected by a great extent is even more worrisome.

Most of the models can produce factually and grammatically correct and coherent material. This enables cheating and undermines the writer’s literary and critical thinking capabilities. Even writers are going as far as to use them in research papers for over two years now.

Thanks to the latest UK group of researchers from East Anglia University, we found that despite the popularity that this tool holds, it’s got a long way to go to match the work quality showcased by actual students.

The research, dubbed Does ChatGPT Write like Students was shared in the Written Communication Journal. More than 145 essays by humans were compared to those produced by ChatGPT. The revelations shared how student essays are much richer in terms of variety and quantity. They have more engagement features, engaging interactions, and have that persuasive aura that tech lacks.

The authors also concluded that ChatGPT-produced essays showed fewer engagement markers and, therefore, limited interactions. So they basically lacked a crucial aspect, which is personality. The essays produced by actual students entailed a great engagement scheme, and that made them so much more compelling to read. You would have direct appeals, rhetorical queries, and personal digressions. The communication was clearer and had the right kind of communication.

Essays produced by ChatGPT showed fluency in linguistics and were impersonal. That means you’re less likely to enjoy, engage, or relate to ChatGPT essays. The authors of the study hope the purpose of the research will make educators understand that it’s not hard to see if students used ChatGPT or not. They can easily distinguish human content from others.

The only disadvantage today is related to the lack of tools for detecting texts made by generative AI. While many online pages do offer such AI checks, they’re not always accurate and fail at highlighting AI-produced text in every instance.

So the next time you pick up that essay task and think you can get away with it, do realize that it’s not hard to spot AI-produced material.

Image: DIW-Aigen

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Over One Billion Users at Risk as Chatbot Harassment and Misconduct Reports Continue Rising

A new study is speaking about the growing use of chatbots. These customized or very personalized AI chatbots are supposed to serve as your companions, long-lost friend, and even as a therapist. In some cases, they’re being used as replacements for a romantic partner.

The figures continue to skyrocket to more than one billion around the globe. Today, people are more emotionally attached to these bots and engaging with them in a very disturbing manner. Some reports are talking about harassment, inappropriate conversations, and more.

Thanks to a new study published by Drexel University, exposure to these bots is becoming too common, and now it’s come to the point that tech giants and lawmakers need to address the matter before it’s too late.

The authors of this study reportedly took an in-depth look at the experiences with users, and it’s just alarming to say the least. After analyzing close to 35,000 reviews from users regarding the bot, there were hundreds of reports of brutal behavior.

Unwanted flirting, sharing explicit images, paying for upgrades, and even sexual advances. The behavior is on the rise, despite users being asked to stop by the bot. One chatbot that goes by the name Replika has close to 10 million users around the globe. This is marketed as your next best tech companion. It’s for those needing a friend, no-nonsense drama, and no social anxiety. Users can go as far as to develop social connections, sharing laughs, and get used to AI, which is the closest form of human interactions.

The study proves that the tech doesn’t have the right guardrails in place to keep users protected, which puts a lot of trust into their chats with these systems. The fact that no ethical standards are in place is disturbing and harmful, another professor shared.

The risk of getting misled is already high, and seeing this kind of damage come into play when the programs are produced without safety protocols is what’s making the issue worse. The study is one of a kind and would become a part of the Association for Computing Machinery’s Computer-Supported Cooperative Work and Social Computing Conference.

The chatbots are growing immensely, and it’s great to understand the experiences of users in charge. It’s not like your everyday human chat. People are assuming these chatbots have sentimental feelings that make them more liable to emotional harm. So studies like these are bringing to the spotlight the need that developers should implement guardrails and guidelines to keep all protected.

Researchers fear that despite the results being out there in the open now about harassment conducted by chatbots, it has been around for a long time. As a whole, more than 800 reviews used this term, with three leading themes arising from within.

The replies of users to these types of inappropriate actions replicate those experienced by harassment victims, the study went on to reveal. The reactions hint more about how these effects, which are AI-induced, can have serious implications for a person’s mental health.

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April Sees ChatGPT Leap to Number One in Downloads and Second in Revenue Behind TikTok’s $329M

All predictions about artificial intelligence for 2025 proved to be true, and it’s safe to say this tech continues to dominate across the board. We saw AI chatbots make it big in terms of revenue through both the App Store and Google Play.

Comparisons from last month prove that April was bigger and better in terms of figures for AI. Let’s take a look at the highest-earning platforms around the globe for last month.

No surprises here in terms of who took the lead and made sure to leave their mark. It’s TikTok that earned the top position as the highest-earning mobile platform last month. The social media platform earned a massive $329 million in terms of net revenue through the App Store and Google Play Store.

The revenue dominance was on display for a few years, but it was never a huge gap when compared to other arch rivals. Now, it seems like things are changing, and the gap keeps getting bigger in April as TikTok’s net revenue grew above the $300 million mark for the second time.

The news comes although the American government is forcing it to merge with Chinese-owned giant Bytedance. Now the question is whether or when that can happen. The revenue dominance is visible to us all, and this is the first time that figures for revenue have gone over $300 million for the second time.

Runner up for April 2025 was estimated to be video streaming giant YouTube, which continues to remain in the shadows of TikTok forever. But April did see things switch up a bit as OpenAI's ChatGPT hit the second spot as the highest-earning platform for the first time.

The AI giant added $148M to its net revenue scores as per estimates shared by AppFigures. This means it keeps all that cash after it paid Google and Apple their fair share of fees.

This just goes to show that the demand for AI is very high for ChatGPT. The competition in this domain is very heated, as you’ve got competition from Meta, xAI, and more. It’s quite clear that ChatGPT is certainly a frontrunner in the race, and it managed to hit the second spot when it was not even in the top five last month. Revenue figures grew 50% in just one month.

The app came in there, and net revenue scores reached $131 million as per estimates from App Intelligence. TikTok and ChatGPT saw revenue boom in April while YouTube’s revenue fell nearly 23%, reaching the old levels seen last year.

To round up the top five, it was Tinder and Disney+ who continued to be top performers in terms of revenue. This just goes to show that apps need to go that extra mile. As per the recent estimates, the top 10 highest earning platforms raked in $1.2 billion. The fact that downloads went downhill for April is a positive growth, even if the figure might be in single digits. Publishers and developers will need to work harder for a successful May.

Moving on to the most downloaded platforms for April 2025, ChatGPT again made it big. It jumped to position number, which is a huge shift in recent AI trends. To think that it superceded all other social media giants to hit that spot is incredible.

This is the second time we’ve seen it dethrone other leaders, such as Instagram. Thanks to stats from Appfigures Intelligence, the AI tool has over 52 million downloads across the iOS and Android markets. This is a 12% growth from that seen in March of this year and a 38% growth from that seen in January. It appears that greater competition gives rise to greater downloads.

This is also the first time that the app was crowned the top spot for both the App Store and Google Play Store. How’s that for an incredible milestone? In second position, we had TikTok with an estimated 39 million downloads, while Instagram took the third spot with a little less. It seems like these two might need to take a backseat as it’s ChatGPT’s time to shine for a while.

The top five for most downloaded platforms were rounded up by Facebook and WhatsApp, which had 31 million and 27 million downloads each. So Meta is on a roll with three of its family apps making the top 5 most downloaded platforms around the globe. Meanwhile, Threads isn’t too far below, still making the top 10.

Temu took on the sixth spot with 25 million downloads, although the US penalized China with high tariffs. However, the download figures were the lowest we’ve ever seen for them, so we don’t expect to see it hit the top 10 most downloaded apps rankings in May.

As a whole, the total estimated figures for downloads hit 300 million, which is a 13% decline from the total seen last month. This means developers need to pull their weight and work on bettering the figures for a successful May. This was not the case for most revenue-generating platforms that still managed to see a single-digit growth in April.

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by Dr. Hura Anwar via Digital Information World

Meta Under Fire for Emotional Targeting and Expansive AI Data Harvesting

Over the last several days, Meta has come under renewed scrutiny for how intimately it tracks user behavior—especially following the launch of its AI chatbot and eye-opening revelations from a former employee.

Sarah Wynn-Williams, once with Meta and now an author, spoke before the U.S. Senate, alleging that Meta internally used emotional indicators from users, especially teens, to refine advertising precision. She described how the company could identify states like hopelessness or poor self-esteem and provide advertisers with access to that data. For instance, if a teenage girl deletes a photo—possibly reflecting low confidence—the algorithm might push beauty products or slimming teas in that very moment.

This kind of emotional microtargeting — particularly toward adolescents — raises major ethical concerns. It highlights a disturbing trend where tech firms commodify mental states for profit.

Simultaneously, Meta’s new AI chatbot has reignited privacy debates. Designed for personalized chats, the bot pulls data not just from messages but also from broader user activity across Facebook and Instagram. Everything typed into it sharpens its learning model. Analysts at The Washington Post have noted that this data collection goes well beyond what ChatGPT or Gemini currently gathers.

Though Meta’s practices have raised red flags before, the outrage after Cambridge Analytica gradually faded. As the dust settled, Meta capitalized on the public’s tendency to trade privacy for convenience—letting the wheels keep spinning.

Yet the depth of data Meta has collected is staggering. A 2015 study from Stanford and Cambridge universities demonstrated that Facebook "likes" alone could predict users' personality traits more precisely than even close friends or spouses.

The strength lies not in single actions, but in the mosaic of choices. Following meme pages or liking pop stars may seem mundane—yet, en masse, they tell stories. They might hint at smoking habits, biases, or impulsivity—even without explicit declarations.

Some digital footprints are clear, others subtle—but Meta’s algorithms can connect the dots with uncanny precision. Even though fewer young users are sharing personal content on Facebook, the chatbot delivers a new pipeline of high-quality data.

Available across apps, the chatbot spans countless topics. It encourages users to speak openly—offering Meta a rich supply of preferences, moods, and motivations to fuel its vast advertising engine.

Meta claims it refrains from storing harmful or sensitive chatbot inputs and gives users deletion options. But these controls demand initiative, and most users don’t actively manage what’s logged.

Despite existing privacy toggles, studies show most people leave defaults untouched. That inertia benefits Meta. Its Advantage+ ad platform, run by machine learning, thrives on a deep reservoir of behavioral data.

As Meta's AI grows more advanced, its capacity to intuit thoughts, desires, and intentions will only grow. Whether users scroll, post, or chat—they continue to feed the system.

In exchange for quick answers and smart replies, people give up ever-deeper pieces of themselves. And considering Meta’s track record, it’s worth asking—how much more should we allow them to learn?

Image: DIW-Aigen

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