Beautifying social media filters have sparked debate—and even lawsuits—over the years. While millions use these filters to enhance their photos, concerns about their potential impact on people’s mental health, particularly among younger users, continue to rise. Today, perhaps later than many had hoped, Meta, the parent company of Instagram, Facebook, and WhatsApp, has announced plans to remove third-party-created filters starting in January 2025.
Meta Spark, launched in 2017, was designed to give creators a platform to develop and share augmented reality (AR) effects—like the popular filters you’ve likely seen on your feed. Whether you’re editing a selfie or using a viral filter everyone seems to be trying, chances are it was created through Meta Spark. However, as of next year, the creative platform is reportedly coming to an end entirely.
“Following a thorough assessment, we have made the decision to shut down Meta Spark’s platform of third party tools and content, effective Tuesday, January 14, 2025,” the company announced via its blog. “This means that the Augmented Reality (AR) effects built by third parties—including brands and our wider community of AR Creators—will no longer be available beginning on this date. AR Effects owned by Meta will continue to be available to our users across our Family of Apps.
We are deeply grateful to the community of creators, businesses, and other key stakeholders who have been part of the Meta Spark journey,” the statement continued. “When we first launched this platform seven years ago, experiences infused with augmented reality were new to most consumers. Since then, the imagination, innovation, and creativity of our AR creator community has helped extend the reach of AR to hundreds of millions of people across Meta’s platforms.”
While this decision is groundbreaking, some are wary because Meta has reversed its decision to remove specific social media filters in the past. In 2019, the company announced its plans to remove “all effects associated with plastic surgery from the Instagram Effect Gallery” and postpone the “approval of new effects associated with plastic surgery until further notice.” However, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg later vetoed the move, allowing these controversial filters to remain available.
