Big Tech company Meta removed the nonfungible token (NFT) feature on its social media platforms Facebook and Instagram just less than a year after its launch.
Stephane Kasriel, Meta’s head of trading and financial technology, tweeted the news on March 13, saying Meta is “winding up” NFT support because it wants to “focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses.”
Some product news: across the company, we are looking closely at what is our priority to increase our focus. For now, we’re putting digital collections (NFT) away to focus on other ways to support creators, people, and businesses. [1/5]
— Stephane Kasriel (@skasriel) March 13, 2023
Kasriel added that the company is still prioritizing ways for users to “connect with fans and monetize” and will focus on things like building a payment rail on the platform and through the messaging and monetization app Reels – the company’s short video tool.
The product took a little longer as the test started in May 2022 with selected United States creators on Instagram before being added to Facebook in June. This was expanded again in July as Instagram made the NFT tool available to more than 100 countries.
This is a developing story, and further information will be added as it becomes available.