Facebook thwarts Prisma’s live-streaming video effects, denies app API access

Prisma’s popular art filters are applied to both stills and videos, using artificial intelligence to mimic a certain artistic style, often of an art era or trend. Earlier in November, an app update allowed those filters to be applied live — right around when Facebook shared that it was working on live filters.

Now, however, Facebook has told the Russian app startup that since the Facebook app can already live stream video from a smartphone camera, the app doesn’t qualify for access to the platform’s API, which is the software that allows different apps to interact with each other.

TechCrunch reported  the social media platform told Prisma, “Your app streams video from a mobile device camera, which can already be done through the Facebook app. The Live Video API is meant to let people publish video content from other sources, such as professional cameras, multi-camera setups, games or screencasts.” While Facebook says the API is intended so other devices can access the feature, the webpage also says it can be used to apply effects to video.

Prisma said they were working on the issue, but likely wouldn’t be able to use the live feature on the Facebook platform — and suggested a live option for other websites as a possibility.

Prisma has only been around since June, but the app’s intelligent artistic filters quickly became a hit with 70 million downloads in four months. Video was a recent addition to the app which expanded into live possibilities for users working with an iPhone 6S or newer smartphone capable of handling the real-time processing. The app says another update is coming mid-December.