Facebook is quietly removing a major feature that many people use daily to talk with other group members. And they’re replacing it with a new product that has very different privacy settings.
Facebook Group chats (also known as Facebook Community chats) are being permanently disabled. Men’s Journal contacted Facebook support and received confirmation of the details in this story.
All Facebook Group Chats Are Being Removed, But a Specific End Date Hasn’t Been Announced
Facebook Group chats are a feature that many Facebook members enjoy daily. Group admins (and sometimes members depending on the settings) can create chats on a variety of topics, allowing for real-time, fast-paced discussions similar to what you might find in Discord.
These chats are now going away, Facebook Support confirmed with us. However, Support added, Facebook has not revealed a specific date when all the chats will be gone. So it might vary depending on the group you’re in.
Facebook Support also confirmed with us that while group chats are going away, Facebook Groups are not being removed.
On Facebook’s Help page for accessing group chats, they have a notice at the top that reads, “Community chats will be going away soon.” The page goes on to explain how you can download all your Community chat messages before they’re permanently deleted.
Users have also reported getting notifications that read, “Community chats are going away soon. In a few weeks, these chats will be deleted. Keep using the Facebook Group to connect with your community.” And beneath the message is a button labeled “Create a Messenger Community.”
Group Chats Are Being Replaced with Messenger Communities & Privacy Settings May Be Different
Facebook’s Help page notes, “You can keep your group connected by creating a similar Messenger Community.”
However, the page goes on to point out that these Messenger Communities are separate from Facebook groups. They can be used for chats, sharing important news and updates, or planning or sharing events. And their privacy settings are different.
Facebook Support confirmed with us that yes, Messenger Communities are designed to replace the function that Facebook Group Chats had served.
According to Facebook’s Help page, Messenger Communities cannot be created or used on desktop. They can only be accessed on mobile devices. These chats also have privacy settings which may be different than what private group chats had.
The help page notes, “Since communities on Messenger are designed for more public conversations, they do not follow the same privacy guidelines as your personal message on Messengers… Only members can participate in your community, but anyone can preview content, including the community’s name and description, chat names, names of mutual friends in a chat, the admin’s name and profile picture and more.”
If the feature is available to you, you’ll see an option to create a new community in your Messenger mobile app’s menu. (You won’t see it on desktop.) We have the feature and it looks like this:
Dwilson/Facebook
As you proceed through the setup, the feature notes that it can host “up to 5,000 real world connections online.” In other words, if your Facebook group has more than 5,000 members, they won’t all be able to be in this community messenger chat.
As you move through the setup pages, you’ll be asked to select from a series of options describing what your community will be chatting about. These include options like “Music, movies and TV,” “Wellness,” “Campus,” “Gaming,” “Neighborhood,” “Food and drink,” “Pets,” and more.
We went through the process of setting up a community and received this message near the end.
Dwilson/Facebook
Facebook notes that they can “review chats against our Community Standards.”
