Meta Will Remove NFTs from Instagram and Facebook
Meta, a major tech company that owns social media platforms Facebook and Instagram, is discontinuing its non-fungible token (NFT) features. The decision comes almost ten months after the features were initially introduced. Stephane Kasriel, the head of commerce and financial technologies at Meta, announced on Twitter on 13th of March that the company is winding down NFT support in order to concentrate on alternative methods of supporting creators, individuals, and businesses.
Stephane Kasriel also stated that despite discontinuing NFT features, Meta is still committed to enabling users to connect with their followers and generate income. The company plans to concentrate on developing tools such as building payment systems on its platform and messaging apps, as well as monetizing Reels, which are short-form videos found on Facebook and Instagram.
Specifically, Kasriel highlighted the importance of Meta Pay, the firm's payment platform, which may eventually support cryptocurrency based on trademark filings from May.
NFTs were only available on Facebook and Instagram for a short period of time, as the testing phase began in May with a select group of creators on Instagram before expanding to Facebook in June. The NFT features were further extended in August when Instagram made NFT tools available in over 100 countries.
In November of last year, Meta launched a toolkit for minting and trading NFTs on Instagram. However, Meta's recent announcement of discontinuing NFT support has been criticized by the crypto community. NFT artist Dave Krugman, for instance, described the decision as "short-sighted" and accused Meta of quitting before they even started.
Sources:
https://www.siliconrepublic.com/business/meta-stops-nft-support-instagram-facebook
https://cointelegraph.com/news/meta-pulling-the-plug-on-nfts-across-instagram-and-facebook