Meta will temporarily stop NFT support for Facebook and Instagram

Meta will temporarily stop NFT support for its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram. Meta’s head of commerce and fintech said this. The change will be implemented on the platforms in the coming weeks.

Meta’s commerce and fintech head Stephane Kasriel confirmed the decision Monday evening in a thread on Twitter. Kasriel says the company is “discontinuing digital collectibles for the time being.” A spokesperson says to The Verge that the tech giant is discontinuing its tests for mining and selling NFTs on Instagram, as well as the ability to share such non-fungible tokens on Instagram and Facebook. According to the spokesperson, this will happen ‘in the coming weeks’. Meta introduced the testing features last year.

“Across the company, we’re taking a hard look at what we’re prioritizing to increase our focus,” Kasriel said. “We’re moving away from digital collectibles for now to focus on other ways to support creators, people and businesses.” The company says it wants to focus more on other areas in the future, such as messaging, improving payment service Meta Pay and opportunities for creators to earn money with Instagram Reels. Meta tells TechCrunch that the company continues to keep an eye on cryptocurrency for the long term.

Meta previously suggested that it will cancel more projects in the coming year. CEO Mark Zuckerberg previously called 2023 a “year of efficiency” for Meta. “As part of this, we are being more proactive in removing projects that are not performing or are no longer as critical,” the CEO told shareholders in February. The company is trying to cut costs and in November laid off 11,000 employees, which amounted to 11 percent of its workforce.

Nft support on Facebook and Instagram. Source: Meta