Facebook has partnered with The New York Times to co-create AR filters and effects on Instagram to support users’ access and contextualize media at the media outlet.

NYT has built a dedicated “Augmented Reality Lab” within its R&D unit. “Facebook will be providing financial and technical support for the project, but it will not have any influence on the editorial side. The Times will have full control over the design and content of the effects.” – Per a report in Axios.

At the ‘Facebook Connect’ virtual conference, Facebook said 600+ million users use Spark AR across Instagram and Facebook monthly. The Spark AR Studio is a developers’ platform from Facebook.

“More than 400,000 creators from over 190 countries have published Spark AR effects for Facebook and Instagram. Together, they’ve published over 1.2 million AR effects to date.” Facebook said in a statement.

More than 150 effect owners have hit 1+ billion views and use in just the last 3 months.

“Beginning next year, we’ll open up Portal and Messenger to Spark AR creator publishing, giving more people fun new ways to connect.” – Facebook.