Facebook, Instagram reduce video quality: With more and more countries enforcing lockdown to deal with the spread of coronavirus, internet use is surging to unprecedented levels.

To deal with this load on internet infrastructure and to conserve bandwidth, Facebook has announced that they will be reducing bit rates for videos on Facebook and Instagram in India, Europe and Latin America over this peak period.

This step is being taken to help “users and community handle bandwidth constraints and keep in touch”. “We are working hard to make sure our infrastructure remains fast, reliable, and stable during this period,” Facebook said in a statement. is lowering the bitrate on its eponymous social media platform as well as Instagram across India, Europe, and Latin America. The decision to lower the bitrate has been taken keeping in mind the bandwidth constraints during a time of unprecedented load. This has been done so that everyone can access the services and stay connected with each other, without the risk of any major outage as lockdowns become a commonplace to contain the spread of coronavirus. After all, this happened in the case of Discord and Microsoft Teams earlier this month, when the number of users on the aforementioned services skyrocketed in a very short span of time, resulting in a brief service outage.

On Sunday, the world’s largest social network(Facebook)  followed the steps of Netflix, Alphabet Inc’s YouTube, Amazon and Walt Disney in response to a call by the European Union to stave off internet gridlock as thousands of people work from home due to the coronavirus outbreak.

“To help alleviate any potential network congestion, we will temporarily reduce bit rates for videos on Facebook and Instagram in India. We are committed to working with our partners to manage any bandwidth constraints during this period of heavy demand, while also ensuring people are able to remain connected using Facebook apps and services during the COVID-19 pandemic,” said a spokesperson from Facebook.

Facebook isn’t the only company that has decided to lower bit rates of internet content. Netflix announced today that they will be reducing streaming quality in India after enforcing it in Europe.

Netflix said the move will help reduce its traffic on the telecommunication networks in India by 25%. However, for Netflix users, this does not mean that you won’t get HD content.