Facebook is shutting down Lasso, the heavily TikTok-inspired video app it launched in 2018. CNNKerry Flynn discovered the notifications that are sent to users, telling them that the application will not be usable after July 10 and advising them to download the videos they want to keep.
Former-TechCrunch Editor Josh Constine notes that Facebook appears to be shutting down Lasso as its focus shifts to Instagram’s reel feature. Reels is a video editing tool that allows users to record and edit TikTok-style videos that they can then post to their Instagram Stories, send via DM, or post to a new section of the Explore tab called Top Reels. The feature launched in Brazil last year and expanded to France and Germany last week, according to TechCrunch.
Lasso was only available in select markets around the world. TechCrunch reports that in addition to being available in the U.S., the app was also available in Colombia, Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Peru, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Uruguay as of February.
Lasso is not the only service owned by Facebook to be closed on July 10. Yesterday, TechCrunch He reported that Facebook is also shutting down Hobbi, an experimental Pinterest-like app designed to help people document personal projects. Hobbi was the work of Facebook’s New Product Experimentation team, and it only launched in February of this year.
