Meta investigates to integrate NFTs into Facebook and Instagram

Meta is exploring plans to let users create, showcase, and sell NFTs on Facebook and Instagram.

If the company launches such tools, it would be the largest demonstration of mainstream support for NFTs to date and help cement the controversial assets’ place in the digital world.

According to the FT , the plans are “at an early stage and subject to change.” The publication says teams at Facebook and Instagram are “preparing” a feature that will allow users to display NFTs as their profile pictures, and are working on a prototype to let users save new NFTs. Others at Meta are reportedly discussing “launching a marketplace for users to buy and sell NFTs.”

Exactly how far along these plans are is impossible to say, but it’s not the first expression of interest in NFTs we’ve seen from Meta’s leaders. Instagram chief Adam Mosseri said last December that the company is “actively exploring NFTs and how we can make them more accessible to a wider audience,” while Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg spoke last October about how the metaverse should support “ownership of digital goods, or NFTs.” .

NFTs, or non-replaceable tokens, have gained support with other established web platforms in recent months. Twitter is working on ways to showcase such blockchain-supported assets, while Reddit launched its own collection of NFT avatars for users .

While NFTs are much mocked for their speculative value (prices rise and fall at a shocking rate) and lack of security (they are often stolen despite claims by some to guarantee ownership), these assets will become more important if existing tech giants choose to invest them. support.

What is an NFT?

An NFT (non-fungible token / non-replaceable token) is at its core a way of claiming ownership of a digital asset such as a JPG or a GIF through a unique address on the blockchain. And despite claims that these assets embody a decentralized form of ownership, their legitimacy rests on recognition of existing online platforms. If Twitter or Instagram let someone copy and paste your JPG of a smoking chimpanzee, who’s to say who really owns it? But if companies start enforcing property rights as directed by NFTs, they could become legitimate digital assets (at least on those platforms).

For Meta, embracing NFTs could also help it exert more influence in what the company has called the metaverse — a vague concept of interconnected virtual worlds, akin to promises of VR universes launched in the 1990s and before. . This could potentially increase the value and importance of NFTs while centralizing control over the assets.

Source: theverge