Facebook downgrades video streaming quality in Europe due to coronavirus

Facebook will downgrade video streaming quality both on its own platform and that of its European affiliate Instagram, in response to a request by the European Commission last week.

The decision was reached in order to avoid overloading and congestion on the broadband networks, due to the increased demands of e-government, teleworking, distance education, digital entertainment, and online health services due to the coronavirus.

Netflix and YouTube have set a 30-day limit for downgrading their own videos, with Disney saying it will cut by at least 25% of its own videos in all European countries where it will launch the new Disney + service next week.

Streaming video can take up to two-thirds of data traffic on fixed and mobile broadband.