In 2016, Facebook introduced the capability to exchange SMS messages through Messenger. However, this feature is now being killed off for reasons unknown. This change was announced by Facebook on its Help Center page
Starting September 28, users who utilize Messenger as their primary SMS application will no longer have the ability to transmit or receive text messages after updating the app.
Facebook is additionally recommending Android users consider switching their default messaging platform to either Google Messages or their device’s default messaging application.
As mentioned earlier, it is unclear why Facebook has decided to drop support for SMS texts. Part of the reason may be that SMS is just not used as much anymore now that chatting apps like WhatsApp, Telegram, Discord, and numerous others are more popular than ever.
Giphy Sale
A drop in popularity also forced Facebook’s parent company Meta to let go of Giphy. The popular GIF database was sold off to Shutterstock for only $53 million. The platform had been originally been bought for $315 million.
The reason behind this sale was not only a reduced interest in GIFs but also regulatory pressure from UK authorities, specifically, the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA). Meta had accepted the ruling by CMA that required the company to let go of Giphy, a process that took more than 7 months to unfold.
Giphy told the CMA in August:
User sentiment towards GIFs on social media shows that they have fallen out of fashion as a content form, with younger users in particular describing GIFs as ‘for boomers’ and ‘cringe’.
