Yahoo is to close down its public chat rooms in its Messenger service this month, replacing them with a range of new online communication tools.
The rooms will close down on 14th of December, and yahoo will also shut down its Yahoo Phone In and Phone Out feature at the end of January next year.
The internet company said in a blog post that there were times that it had to make “tough decisions” but the chat service as well as Pingbox and Windows Live Messenger interoperability, which it will also axe on the same day, were not “adding enough value” for users.
Yahoo promised users that it would replace the defunct features with others that will “make Yahoo the most fun way to spend your time”, including optimising its home page for touch-enabled devices.
Yahoo’s Messenger service, launched in 1998, was one of the first online messaging tools. But its chat rooms were at the centre of a furore in 2005 after reports that illegal sex-themed rooms had been set up. The company then announced it would restrict the service to users aged 18 and older.
A representative said that inappropriate chat rooms being set up had no bearing on its decision to close this feature down.
The company said doing this would allow it to spend time developing “core Yahoo products experiences”.
Users can still access Yahoo’s Free Messenger-to-Messenger calls through Yahoo! Messenger.
Read the official announcement here