Facebook fires 'filter arrows' at Snapchat in ongoing video war

Facebook has made its latest move against competitor Snapchat, capitalizing on the popularity of its "selfie" filters and launching a similar offering of the same as it continues to enhance its Live platform.

The new Facebook photo filters have been made possible by a firm called MSQRD (pronounced masquerade) that specializes in video selfies, which Facebook acquired in March this year.

According to The Verge, in the coming weeks Facebook users will be able to trial the MSQRD app and utilize its many different Snapchat-like masks and filters while the video is running.

The app's lenses use a kind of face-swap technology which allows users to apply "masks" onto moving videos of themselves which change the look of their face by adding famous celebrity characteristics, "skins" or exaggerated "emotions."