News
X Previews Long-Awaited “Shadowban” Alerts
Accounts sharing “sensitive content” will be labeled and restricted from searches and recommendations.
X, formerly Twitter, is moving a stage closer to adding a long-promised feature that notifies users when their account becomes “shadowbanned.” Andrea Conway, one of the developers at X, previewed the upcoming feature first promised by controversial CEO Elon Musk last year.
“We may cover your posts with a warning so people who don’t want to see sensitive content can avoid it. The reach of your account and its content may also be restricted, such as being excluded from the For You and Following timelines, recommended notifications, trends, and search results,” said Conway.
starting transparency somewhere pic.twitter.com/QUNKga1t4I
— Andrea Conway (@ehikian) September 26, 2023
Conway displayed two mock-ups of the update: a notifications tab alert plus an informational page explaining why X may limit the visibility of certain accounts. “We have found that your account potentially contains sensitive media — such as graphic, violent, nudity, sexual behavior, hateful symbols, or other sensitive content,” it explains.
Underneath the message sits an appeal button, which users can click to request X review its initial decision. Conway also explained that users would be able to view their account status outside of the notifications tab but didn’t mention how that might work.
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The feature tackles what has long been a controversial issue for Twitter (now X). For years, the company has limited the reach of accounts breaking its rules, sometimes without the account holders themselves being aware of the throttling.
The forthcoming update should add transparency to X’s decisions but is likely to also create further controversies and even conspiracy theories. Meanwhile, Conway said the company “should have more to share on this soon”.
News
Nano Banana 2 Arrives In MENA For Google Gemini Users
Google brings its latest image model to Gemini and Search, adding 4K output and tighter text control for regional users.
Google has opened access to Nano Banana 2 across the Middle East and North Africa, pushing its newest image model into everyday tools rather than keeping it inside the exclusive (and expensive) Pro tier.
The rollout spans the Google Gemini desktop and mobile apps, and extends to Google Search through Lens and AI Mode. Developers can also test it in preview via AI Studio and the Gemini API.
Nano Banana 2 runs on Gemini Flash, Google’s fast inference layer. The focus is speed, but also control. Users can export visuals from 512px up to 4K, adjusting aspect ratios for everything from vertical social posts to widescreen displays.
The model maintains character likeness across up to five figures and preserves fidelity for as many as 14 objects within a single workflow. This enables visual continuity across scenes, iterations, or edits — supporting projects like short films, storyboards, and multi-scene narratives. Text rendering has also been improved, delivering legible typography in mockups and greeting cards, with built-in translation and localization directly within images.
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Under the hood, the system taps Gemini’s broader knowledge base and pulls in real-time information and imagery from web search to render specific subjects more accurately. Lighting and fine detail have been upgraded, without slowing output.
By embedding the model inside Gemini and Search, Google is normalizing advanced image generation for a mass audience. In MENA, where startups and marketing teams are leaning heavily on AI to scale content across languages and borders, that shift lands at a practical moment.
The move also folds creative tooling deeper into search itself, so that image generation is no longer a separate workflow. It now sits right next to the query box.
