Creators are angry over the closure of Meta’s Spark AR, saying they will be out of work with little notice

Creators are upset with Meta’s decision to shut down its Spark platform, which allowed third parties to create augmented reality (AR) effects. In posts to the Meta Spark community on Facebook, creators are expressing disappointment with Meta’s decision, noting that for some of them, the move would put them out of work — and they only found out about it in a Facebook post this morning. Others appear either confused or angry at Spark’s plans to shut down, and are demanding to know the company’s reasons for the decision.

On Meta Spark’s website, the company said it would be shutting down its third-party AR tools and content platform as of Tuesday, January 14, 2025. After that date, AR effects created by AR brands and creators will no longer be available. Those created and owned by Meta, however, will remain available across Meta’s family of apps.

“We are deeply grateful to the community of creators, businesses and other key stakeholders who have participated in the Meta Spark journey,” according to the announcement. “When we launched this platform seven years ago, augmented reality-infused experiences were new to most consumers. Since then, the imagination, innovation and creativity of our AR creator community has helped extend the reach of augmented reality to hundreds of millions of people across Meta’s platforms.”

First launched in 2017, Meta Spark debuted at a time when augmented reality experiences were still relatively new and unfamiliar to many consumers. Since then, the augmented reality effects have been used “billions of times” by “hundreds of millions of Meta users,” the company said in the announcement. That massive appeal made Meta Spark one of the largest augmented reality platforms of the time.

In addition to creating effects for Facebook and Instagram, the program expanded in 2021 with the ability to create AR effects for video calls on Messenger, Instagram, and the now-discontinued Portal devices. At the time, the company said that more than 600,000 creators from over 190 countries had created AR effects using its tools.

Meta suggested that its decision was not tied to the platform’s adoption or popularity, saying that the decision to shut down Spark was made “following a thorough evaluation” and that the move would allow Meta to “prioritize products that we believe will best meet the future needs of our consumers and businesses.” It’s likely that the products Meta wants to prioritize now are those related to its AI tools and initiatives, though the company hasn’t said so directly.

Meta may have more news on what’s in store for developers at its upcoming Meta Connect event scheduled for September 25 in Menlo Park. Of particular interest is that Meta is reportedly working on an updated version of its AR smart glasses that will differ from its current Ray-Ban smart glasses. Given the tech giant’s stated interest in AR technologies, it’s somewhat odd that it would shut down a program that was meant to foster AR development while risking the wrath of its developers.

According to one creator, Douglas Costa, in a post on the Meta Spark community Facebook page: “Over the past few years, we creators have invested money, knowledge, advertising, and an entire infrastructure to make this our livelihood. You can’t abruptly stop filter support in such a simple and easy way – it’s a huge disrespect to us and also to Facebook/Instagram users, most of whom continue to use the platform because of these effects. Five months to stop development? It would take at least a year for us creators to have a better opportunity to create a new portfolio or find a new job. This is unacceptable. I sincerely hope you reconsider this absurd idea of ​​shutting down the platform.”

Costa’s post was followed by a poll about the shutdown. (Unsurprisingly, most creators voted for Meta not to shut down Meta Spark.)

Meta recommends that AR creators who have published effects on Instagram, Facebook, or Messenger download and save their project files, assets, and demos before the January 14 shutdown date. The company said it will also archive the Meta Spark Community group after that date.