Facebook has canceled its annual F8 conference over coronavirus-outbreak concerns.
F8 was scheduled to be held in San Jose in May, but on Thursday the company announced the “in-person component” of the event was canceled.
In a statement, Facebook said:
“In light of the growing concerns around COVID-19, we’ve made the difficult decision to cancel the in-person component of F8 this year, in order to prioritize the health and safety of our developer partners, employees and everyone who helps put F8 on.”
Facebook still plans to hold some smaller local events and produce online material: “We plan to replace the in-person F8 event with locally hosted events, videos and live-streamed content,” the company said.
Facebook’s announcement follows the cancellations of other high-profile conferences this month. Workday on Wednesday announced the cancellation of its March 2 sales conference, and the Mobile World Congress, the largest trade show for mobile phones, was canceled last week. Several major companies, including Unity and Microsoft, have pulled out of the Game Developers Conference on March 16th.
