Campaign Middle East rounds up the latest updates on social media, and content and streaming platforms from August 2026. Here are the key highlights:
Snapchat has introduced Now Playing on Snap Map, a new way for Snapchatters to share what they’re listening to with friends. Snap Map is already one of the most popular maps on mobile, with more than 450M people using it each month, and Now Playing adds a new layer of expression to the experience.
Starting with Spotify, Snapchatters can link their account, choose who can see their listening activity, discover songs through the people they already talk to every day, and save tracks to Spotify from Snap Map, Spotlight, and Sound Pages.
Users can tap a track to explore Spotlight videos using the same sound, open it on Spotify, or save it to their Liked Songs. Snapchatters can also save songs directly to Spotify from Spotlight videos and Sound Pages.
WhatsApp has introduced new poll updates to make group decision-making faster, alongside an ‘@all’ mention feature that lets users notify everyone in a group, and a simpler way to create new group chats from existing ones.
Anghami has announced the launch of Anghami Elite, a new flagship program dedicated to celebrating the region’s most influential artists. Anghami Elite is designed to celebrate the artists who have helped shape the region’s musical landscape, going beyond individual releases to spotlight their wider body of work, creative journey, and cultural impact.
X taking another major step in our ongoing efforts to increase transparency. The platform is open-sourcing the code that affects a post’s visibility in the For You timeline, and releasing a new tool that shows users labels applied to their account or posts that might limit visibility.
Beginning on 8/24/2026, on YouTube a view will be counted the moment a video begins to play – from the very first frame. This standard will now apply globally across all formats. This new metric parity across all formats will give creators a clearer picture of their overall exposure and makes it easier to confidently express their true scale and value to brand partners and sponsors. Users will start to see the new view metric applied wherever views are shown on YouTube.
Spotify and Samsung Electronics have announced a partnership across the Middle East, North Africa, and Türkiye that will enhance the way people discover, share, and enjoy music across select Samsung devices, spanning smartphones, tablets, TVs, sound devices, wearables, and digital appliances.
Instagram is globally rolling out Replace Audio, allowing users to change the music on published feed posts and carousels without deleting and re-uploading them – all the while, preserving all of their existing likes, comments, and reach.
The Walt Disney Company and TikTok have announced a global deal that will bring fans and creators alike a unique way to discover and create content utilising memorable scenes and moments from Disney movies and shows.
The agreement, which will pilot in the US in the coming months with the intention of other markets to follow, will bring an expansive collection of thoughtfully curated Disney-centric fan-created content from TikTok to the Disney+ app.
Here are other platform updates to know about.