IT rule tweaks, Musk's snap at Twitter, social media hits reset in 2022

Many spend a good part of their day on social media but what has become an integral part of one's lives went through future-altering twists and turns through the year.

The world's town square Twitter was taken over by 'free-speech absolutist' Elon Musk, amended rules for digital platforms set the stage for grievance appellate panels and more accountability, work started on new norms for data protection, and employees got fired from what was once touted as dream jobs.

Meta said it will cut 13 per cent of its global workforce, more than 11,000 employees, marking one of the biggest tech layoffs of the year as fabled companies wobbled under slowdown headwinds, soaring costs and a sluggish advertising market.

While Musk continued to experiment with paid verifications, takedowns, lifting life bans and Twitter polls, social media users, in general, changed the way they posted online. Posting blurry photos on Instagram became a fad, and Gen Z happily traded picture perfection for unfiltered