Facebook Rolling Out Free Video Chats for Groups Up to 50 People in Bid to Compete With Zoom

It’s Zoom vs. Zuck!

This past Friday, Facebook announced a new videoconferencing product in what appears to be a bid to take away a chunk of Zoom’s new user base. Messenger Rooms will let Facebook and Messengers users create free videos calls for groups of up to 50 people–even if they don’t have Facebook accounts. (Messenger video calls had previously been limited to eight people.) Video calls on Messenger Rooms will also have no time limit and will allow people to add silly masks to their faces through the use of filters.

Zoom calls, by contrast, are free for up to 100 users for just the first 40 minutes. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg said on a livestreamed announcement last week that Messenger Rooms would start rolling out immediately, but won’t be available worldwide for a few more weeks.