Facebook’s Halloween-Themed Augmented Reality ‘Masks’ Filters Haunt Live Videos

If a major holiday looms, then you can be sure that Facebook has something up its sleeves. With Halloween right around the corner, the company has decided to infuse the reactions we use to express our thoughts on posts, and give us virtual masks to wear while broadcasting through Facebook Live.

As seen in the shot above, Facebook Live's interface now features a carousel of different masks to wear, which based on the examples given, look to be quite natural when applied (it's just a matter of time before we see if that translates to real use). Fortunately, the fun doesn't have to end after Halloween; Facebook says that while some of the masks are here just for a limited time (the witch and pumpkin, notably), some will remain, so that you can enjoy them any time of the year.

Wearing a mask is as simple as tapping it from within the Facebook Live interface. If you grow bored, you can scroll to the end of the list to find an icon that reverts you to a mask-less state.

You should also soon notice a difference in the reactions: while the Like and Love icons are similar to before, Haha, Wow, Sad, and Angry have been given complete makeovers. It's almost unfortunate that these correspond to real emotions, as Sad and Angry might not get used too much, despite how great they look.

There are a couple of things that are unclear at the moment. It's not obvious whether an update to the Messenger app will be required to enjoy these new features, and we're not sure when the changes will be reflected to the desktop website. Our best guess is "very soon". There's also no word on whether these can be disabled, but since they're only temporarily, chances are not good. Boo to that, if you don't like or celebrate Halloween.