Facebook takes on Zoom with live video broadcasting for large meetings

Facebook is rolling out a new feature allowing users to livestream video calls with up to 50 participants.

"Whether you’re hosting a book club with friends, interviewing a panel of experts, teaching a fitness class, or broadcasting with your friends for fun, going live from a room lets you interact with audiences of any size,” the company said in a blog post Thursday.

The feature allows users to stream video calls made in Messenger Rooms on Facebook Live.

Facebook users who create a Messenger Room will be able to stream a live broadcast of the call from their profile, a Facebook Page or a Facebook Group, allowing large audiences to watch in real time.

The room creator can add or remove participants, including those who do not have a Facebook account, as well as lock and unlock a room at any time during the live broadcast.

The feature will launch in some countries Thursday with plans to expand to all regions where Messenger Rooms are available. The move comes as the company's Live broadcasts from Facebook Pages doubled in June compared to the same time last year.

The new feature will allow Facebook to compete with video-conferencing platforms like Zoom and Google Meet, which have grown in popularity amid the coronavirus pandemic.

In April, Zoom said it had reached 300 million active daily video users, correcting its previous claim of 300 million active daily participants, while Google said its Meet platform surpassed 100 million active daily users in the same month and that the company is adding about 3 million new users every day.

:story: Fox Business