Facebook F8 Developer Conference cancelled amid coronavirus concerns

• Facebook has cancelled its F8 developer conference due to the coronavirus epidemic.
  
• The event was scheduled to be held on May 5 and 6 in San Jose, California.
  

Social media giant Facebook has decided to cancel its biggest event of the year, the annual F8 developer conference over concerns about the COVID-19 coronavirus outbreak. The conference was scheduled to be held on May 5 and 6 in San Jose, California.

Last year, the developer conference attracted over 5,000 creators, developers and entrepreneurs. Facebook has also cancelled a marketing summit scheduled for next month which was expected to draw over 4,000 people.

Facebook is working on alternatives

Facebook has said that it is planning on other ways in which the community can get together. The social media giant will organize locally hosted events, share videos and live stream content in place of the F8 developer conference.

“This was a tough call to make -- F8 is an incredibly important event for Facebook and it’s one of our favorite ways to celebrate all of you from around the world -- but we need to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone who helps put F8 on,” said Konstantinos Papamiltiadis, Facebook’s director of developer platforms and programs.

Facebook is not alone

The F8 developer conference is not the only major tech event that has been affected due to the coronavirus. Earlier this month, the Mobile World Congress which was to be held in Barcelona was cancelled after several companies pulled out of the event.

The upcoming Game Developers Conference has also been impacted due to the coronavirus as several companies such as Microsoft, Facebook, Epic Games, Sony, EA, Unity and Kojima Productions have pulled out of the event. The GDC was scheduled for March 16 – 20 in San Francisco and will likely be cancelled as more companies withdraw.

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