Meta

Meta pulling the plug on NFTs across Social media giants 

  • Meta is rolling out its non-fungible token features on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram.
  • Kasriel thanked the partners who contributed with him in this journey.

Notably, last year only Meta presented support for creators to share NFTs (Non Fungible Tokens) on social media giants Instagram and Facebook when crypto assets had skyrocketed in popularity. 

Meta rolling out its NFTs features after 10 months of launched  

As per the reports, Big tech firm Meta is rolling out its non-fungible token features on its social media platforms, Facebook and Instagram, approximately 10 months after they first launched.

On March 14, 2023, Stephane Kasriel, leading commerce and FinTech at Meta, tweeted this news and said, “we’re looking closely at what we prioritize to increase our focus.”  According to him, they are turning down digital collectibles (NFTs) for now to focus on other ways to help creators, individuals, and commerce.

Mr. Kasriel also thanked the partners who contributed with him in this journey. 

He mentioned in his Twitter thread, “Thank You to the partners who joined us on this journey and who’re doing great work in a dynamic space. Proud of the relationships we built. He will be looking  forward to helping several NFT creators who are willing to use Facebook and Instagram to develop their creation.

Mr. Kasriel previously served as Chief Technology Officer at PayPal. Also claimed that they will continue to focus on bringing more approach for creators to the Meta. He noted, “we’re going to focus on areas where we can make impact at scale, such as messaging and monetization opps for Reels.”

NFTs across platforms were relatively short-lived, as inspecting began. Select creators on Instagram in May before stretching to Facebook in June.

Specifically, Kasriel noted the company’s focus on payments platform Meta Pay. May support cryptocurrencies in the future, according to a trademark filing in May. 

According to the reports

NFT features expanded again in August. As Instagram made NFT tools available in more than 100 countries. In November last year, Metal launched an “end-to-end toolkit” for mining and trading NFTs within Instagram.

The announcement made by Mr. Kasriel received sharp criticism from the crypto community. The co-founder of Web3 firm Earth Labs,Allen Hena, said in his tweet, “We get it, you realized that using public crypto networks means you can’t exploit creators, people and businesses in the same way you have been.”

Meanwhile, a crypto artist, Dave noted,  “winding down for now” is just wild. The trust earned over the past year is now squandered, pushing artists even further away.”

Last year alone, its metaverse-building division Reality Labs posted its biggest ever annual loss of $13.7 billion, according to reports. Meta conducted the first mass layoffs in the company’s history. In November, cutting its workforce by 13%, to about 11,000 employees.