Meta announces that Facebook Live videos will no longer be saved forever
Meta has made a surprise announcement about Facebook Live video. The company has updated its video storage policy, and this means that live streams will no longer be stored indefinitely.
This is a significant change from the social media giant. Meta says that it is aligning its storage policies with industry standards, and the impact will be noticed by many. Videos that were once stored forever will now be automatically deleted after just 30 days -- so you need to act now.
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As well as matching the policies of other companies, Meta says that the change takes into account the fact that the vast majority of live video views occur “within the first few weeks of broadcasting”.
Announcing the news, Meta says: “Beginning on February 19th, any new live broadcast videos can be replayed, downloaded or shared from your Facebook Pages or profiles for 30 days, after which they will automatically be removed from Facebook. Previously these videos were stored indefinitely”.
The change will affect those who have streamed live video as well as viewers. Meta explains what the changes mean:
As part of this transition, all live videos currently older than 30 days will be removed, and you will not be able to access them anymore. The deletion process will take place in waves over the coming months, and we are providing new tools for people to download their old live videos before they are gradually deleted. Before your archival live videos are deleted, you will receive a notification. Once received, you will have 90 days to choose what to do with your old live content: download to your device, transfer to your cloud storage, or convert to a new reel.
To avoid losing videos to the policy change, there are various options. Videos can be downloaded individually or en masse, or they can be transferred to cloud storage services. There is also the option of converting them to Reels, or there is a chance to delay the deletion.
Meta explains:
If you need additional time to download your old live videos, we are providing the option to defer deletion for an additional six months. After that period, if you do not make a choice, your old live videos will be removed and will no longer be available.
Full details and instructions are available here.