A year after announcing podcasts and other audio services, Facebook will now remove them altogether from its service starting June 3, 2022. Meta confirmed in a note sent to partners that Facebook will prevent users add podcasts to the service starting this week, Bloomberg said in a report.
Facebook will discontinue its short-form audio product Soundbites and remove its central audio hub. Reportedly, the Live Audio Rooms will integrate into Facebook Live. However, social media clarified users could go live with audio only or with both audio and video.
The social media announced a bunch of audio efforts in April 2021, 9to5Mac reported. As per a report by Engadget, Podcast app operators like Apple and Spotify were already a threat to Facebook, which is currently driving reels feature, live streaming and audio-visual features.
“We are constantly evaluating the features we offer so we can focus on the most meaningful experiences,” a Meta spokesperson has said. The Soundbites and the audio hub services will reportedly end in the coming weeks. Facebook did not mention a specific date. However, it will let publishers announce the removal of podcast services, according to Meta.