Facebook Gaming adds charity livestream support for US creators

Facebook Gaming, the social network's gaming hub, has announced new support for charity livestreams. The tools are made available for gaming creator streams broadcasted on the platform, enabling them to present a donation goal, display a donation progress bar, and present viewers with overlaid alerts whenever a new donation is made.

Gaming livestreams for charity aren't anything new, but until now they weren't easily performed on Facebook Gaming. That changes in time for Giving Tuesday, Facebook announced on its Gaming account. The company began testing the feature with select partners previously, but now it is rolling out to more creators and select big charities.

Supported charities include The Humane Society of the US, Autism Speaks, Call of Duty Endowment, and more. Facebook says it is working on adding support for other charities, as well, though it doesn't provide a timeline for launching them. Other creators on Facebook Gaming will also eventually get support for broadcasting charity livestreams.

The support is only available to creators and charities in the United States; it's unclear whether Facebook plans to expand the support to other countries. The new support is a step toward catching up with competitor Twitch, which already supports charity streams and has notoriously been the platform used to raise thousands of dollars in donations for various charities in the past.

Facebook Gaming users can set up a charity stream through the platform's dashboard, assuming they have access to the tools. Creators choose the charity they're raising funds for, as well as the donation goal. Viewers who donate will have their donation appear both during the stream and in the stream's chat.