Facebook goes live video chat function for 50 people worldwide at once

Facebook is making its video chat function Messenger Rooms live worldwide. The feature appeared in the United States last month. The feature allows Facebook users to video call 50 people at the same time.

Rooms can be created from the mobile apps for Messenger for Android and iOS, the company says. It should also work from within the Messenger apps for Windows and macOS. In the US it also works from the Facebook app, but worldwide this is not yet the case. When it was announced last month, Facebook said that the feature would also come to WhatsApp and Instagram. When that will happen is not clear.

Messenger Rooms lets users create a video chat, after which people with and without a Facebook account can access it with a link. The host can remove uninvited guests, after which they can only come back with permission. Facebook eventually wants to encrypt Rooms conversations end-to-end, but that is not the case now. It works with the same encryption as other video calls in Messenger.