Facebook Messenger Rooms that will allow anyone to video chat with up to 50 people without any time limit are now available globally. Facebook had announced Messenger Rooms in April as its answer to the likes of Zoom and Houseparty. Anyone can theoretically video chat using Messenger Rooms, though you must have a Facebook account to create a room.
Rooms can be created via Facebook (in North America) or Messenger (globally) alone for now. Facebook is working on ways to create them from Instagram Direct, WhatsApp and Portal, also. A Room invite can be shared on Facebook through News Feed, Groups and Events — it can also be shared by manually sending the link to others — but you’ll only see it if it’s open to you.
You can then choose to join in directly from your Feed or Group. For everyone else, Messenger Rooms will not require you to download Facebook or Messenger to start chatting, though having a Messenger app for instance will help you get more out of your video calls in the form of fancy AR effects, and AI-powered features like immersive 360 backgrounds and mood lighting.
Messenger Rooms video calling will work across mobile and PC.
The host or the creator of a Messenger Room will be in control of who they wish to allow to see the room (in Feed) and join in. They can choose to lock a room (once a call begins) as well as remove participants. You’re also allowed to report a room if you think it violates Facebook’s community standards.
Facebook explicitly mentions that Messenger Rooms will not be completely private, though the social media giant is actively working on bringing end-to-end encryption to both Messenger and Rooms. Facebook will collect some data from Messenger Rooms regardless of whether you joined through one of its apps or without logging into an account. So, you know what you’re getting into, should you be looking to use Messenger Rooms. Facebook won’t watch or listen to your audio or video calls, and audio and video from Messenger Rooms won’t be used to serve any ads, according to Facebook, which is nice.
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