Facebook launches Messenger Rooms, up to 50-person video calls with no time limit

Facebook has announced that its flagship Messenger service is launching a group conference video calling feature called Messenger Rooms.

Like other recent Zoom alternatives from the likes of Google and Microsoft, Messenger Rooms do not require participants other than the host to have a Facebook account, with rooms being joinable via a shareable link. Regardless of whether or not the participants have accounts, these conference calls have no time limit or arbitrary limitations.

Facebook decided to finish development and launch due to the drastically increased amount of people using Messenger and WhatsApp. As of the announcement of the Rooms feature in Messenger, over 700 million people participate in audio and video calls across both messaging services. Though Messenger Rooms is starting as a feature for Facebook Messenger, the plan is to launch support for Room creation on WhatsApp, Instagram Direct, and the company's Portal hardware.

Messenger Groups is being launched in "some countries" this week, with a full worldwide rollout planned in "the coming weeks." It can be accessed via both the Facebook and Messenger directly.

Further coverage: Facebook Newsroom