Instagram ends live-shopping feature; UK extends Meta data probe to summer
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Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) says it's ending a live-shopping feature on Instagram in the coming month.
Beginning March 16, "you will no longer be able to tag products in live broadcasts on Instagram. This change will help us focus on products and features that provide the most value to our users," the company said.
That won't affect other live broadcasting features, including scheduling and inviting guests to broadcasts and holding live Q&A. Users will also continue to be able to set up and run shops on Instagram.
Elsewhere in Meta news, a leaked memo appears to warn employees not to get too excited about Meta's recent stock jump. (After falling 65% in 2022, Meta stock is up more than 29% over the past month. It's down 2.2% early Wednesday.)
A note from Meta Chief Marketing Officer Alex Schultz told workers âWe have to keep our eyes on the horizon and not focus on the reaction of the street and our stock price,â Recode reported.
Meta is still "at the whim of Apple (AAPL)," the report quotes Schultz as saying - a reference to the business hit that Facebook/Meta took from Apple's 2021 iOS privacy changes allowing users to limit data collection. Meta had said that change could cost it $10B in lost revenue per year.
Schultz also said progress on Meta's short-video TikTok (BDNCE) rival Reels has been good but "monetization efficiency" is still "very low."
Meanwhile, the UK's antitrust watchdog is extending its investigation of Facebook's use of advertising data into summer 2023.
The Competition and Markets Authority had previously set its review to run through autumn 2022, but will now pursue "analysis and review, including of further information gathered" until summer.
That probe was initially set to determine "whether Meta might be abusing a dominant position in the social media or digital advertising markets through its collection and use of advertising and single sign-on data."