It says it will focus on public conversations going forward.
YouTube’s direct messaging feature isn’t exactly Google’s most popular way to chat, but it was a convenient way to share videos on the platform, especially on mobile. It probably wasn’t used often enough, though, because the company has decided to kill the feature altogether. A YouTube support page (spotted by 9to5Google) has revealed that the video-sharing platform is removing its native messaging function after September 18th.
YouTube didn’t elaborate on why it decided to retire the feature, but it said it’s going to focus on beefing up the site’s comments section. “We’re constantly reevaluating our priorities and have decided to discontinue YouTube’s native direct messaging feature while we focus on improving public conversations,” the page reads. We hope that means we can look forward to better moderation features and tools for YouTube comments in the future.
YouTube says you’ll still be able to share videos straight from the website by clicking the “social network icon.” If you’re on desktop, though, you can always just copy-paste links into your messaging app of choice.
