Meta company shuts down its video dating service platform "Sparked"

Meta Platform Inc. is shutting down Sparked - a video dating service it has been testing, the company said in an email to its users.

It was developed by the NPE team - its in-house incubator.

"We started building Sparked in late 2020 to help people find love through an experience rooted in kindness. Since then, thanks to regular input and feedback from you, we improved where we could, learned a ton, and made connections between people," Tech Crunch quoted Meta as saying in the mail.

"Like many good ideas, some take off and others, like Sparked, must come to an end."

The company is giving users a way to download their information from Sparked's website before the final shutdown. After January 20, however, all user accounts will be deleted.

According to Tech Crunch, the NPE team's new vision as an organisation is focused more on emerging markets and not just new consumer social experiences.

It has set up offices in Lagos, Nigeria, and is staffing another office in Asia. The NPE team is also planning to look externally for new ideas, including by making seed-stage investments in small, entrepreneurial teams.