Facebook Alters Policy for Archived Livestream Videos

April 1, 2025 • Addison Ching • News

Facebook has announced a change of their policy regarding how long livestreamed videos will be available online for demand viewing.

Previously there was no limit to how long videos were kept online. The new policy, effective in mid-February, changes that.

According to Facebook, "Facebook is rolling out changes to its storage policy for Facebook Live videos. Starting February 19, Facebook Live videos will be retained for 30 days by default on your Facebook Page or profile, during which you can view, delete, or download the video. After 30 days, you will no longer be able to access your Live videos and they will automatically be removed from your Page and deleted from our servers.

"As part of this transition, Facebook Live videos older than 30 days will be deleted. We want to make sure you have the opportunity to keep any Live videos you published, so any Live videos published before February 19 will be made available for you to download until June 22. After that, any existing Live videos published before February 19 will be deleted from your Page or profile."

Some videos on Facebook may remain if they were uploaded after the fact to replace livestream videos that were incomplete, interrupted or of poorer quality. These videos were subsequently replaced after the broadcast with a complete local copy of the broadcast that was created during the broadcast.

Currently, most previous Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase livestream broadcasts are still available on the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase's Facebook page until June 22, 2025. Links to these videos and those posted on the Showcase's YouTube channel are posted on the Showcase's website gallery page. Links to the Facebook videos will be removed when the videos are removed.

While livestreams will continue to be broadcast on both the Hawaiian Steel Guitar Showcase Facebook page and YouTube channel, only the link to the YouTube channel video will be posted in the website gallery. The video may be available online on the Showcase's Facebook page for 30 days following the broadcast but will not be linked to from the Showcase's website.

Links to archived broadcasts on the Showcase's YouTube channel will remain and descriptions of all future broadcasts in the gallery will include only the link to the YouTube video.