Meta is shutting down its Slack rival 'Workplace' — here's why
Meta announced that it will shut down its business-focused private social network platform, Workplace.
As Meta continues its pivot to AI and the Metaverse, there will inevitably be countless products and features that the company sunsets as a result.
Meta has now confirmed one of those products that it is shutting down: Workplace, a private social network platform for companies. TechCrunch first reported the news on Tuesday and Meta has since confirmed it.
“We are discontinuing Workplace from Meta so we can focus on building AI and metaverse technologies that we believe will fundamentally reshape the way we work,” a Meta spokesperson said in a statement. “Over the next two years, we will provide our Workplace customers the option to transition to Zoom’s Workvivo product, Meta’s only preferred migration partner.”
What is Workplace?
Workplace is a Slack or Microsoft Teams competitor, so there are other similar options out there for companies looking to use a compatible service. Workplace, however, basically imitated the Facebook feel and provided companies with a private social network-like platform to interact, something that those alternatives don't quite provide.
According to Meta, Workplace will continue to run as is until August 2025. At that point, Meta will move Workplace into a read-only mode where users can still access what has already been posted. At the end of May 2026, nearly two years from now, Workplace will be completely shuttered and all content will be removed.
When Workplace shuts down, it will mark a 10-year run for the product. The product launched in 2016 and was originally called Facebook at Work. In 2021, Meta announced that Workplace had seven million paying users. However, TechCrunch reports that Workplace struggled in recent years as the product no longer fit the AI and Metaverse-focused direction the company was headed in.
Companies that have used Workplace for years likely have substantial data stored on the platform, which they may want to preserve. This seems to be why Meta is announcing the shutdown two years in advance.