In a notice published on iFriends.net, iFriends has announced that it is winding down operations, calling the 21st year of operation “a natural and organic moment to discontinue the platform.”
“For 20 exciting years, more than 100,000 ‘video chathosts,’ 10,000 marketing partners and other stakeholders have grown with us, realizing financial goals, raising families, paying off mortgages & car loans, putting children through college, and more,” the company said in its statement. “We are proud of what we have all accomplished, working together. From chathosts to affiliates… From more than 10 million registered members to the hardworking people behind iFriends itself… we have brought smiles, success & friendship into each other’s lives. (It was no accident that the name we chose for our service – from the very beginning and before the first line of software code was written in the summer of 1998 – was, simply, “iFriends”).”
Noting that “much can change in 20 years,” the notice then ticks off a list of challenges which now face platforms like iFriends.
“In 2018 alone, the FCC-mandated demise of ‘net neutrality’, new legislative developments out of Washington DC, and certain costly patent litigation efforts have further transformed the business landscape in which we operate,” the statement continues.
According to the notice, all “back-office functions – such as the continuation of payments and reserve releases to both chathosts and marketing partners – will continue as normal, until those obligations are satisfied.”
“While the service itself has been taken offline, rest assured that the professionalism, integrity and dependability for which we are known remains very much online,” the statement continues. “Our longtime support staff – known to many of you already – remain gainfully and securely employed (under long-term employment contracts) and will continue to remain available to you in the months ahead.”
