Meta Removes Facebook News, To Stop Paying News Publishers

MENLO PARK, CA (IANS) – Meta has announced it will not enter new commercial deals for traditional news content in Australia, France, and Germany, and will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future.

In early April, the company will kill Facebook News, a dedicated tab for news content, in the US and Australia.

Facebook News was deprecated in the UK, France, and Germany last year.

“People will still be able to view news on Facebook in feed in these countries, and publishers will continue to have access to their Facebook accounts and Pages, where they can post their news article links and content,” the company said in a statement.

This update does not impact the existing agreements the company has in relation to Facebook News with news publishers in Australia, France, and Germany until they expire.

“This is part of an ongoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most,” Meta said.

The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the US dropped by over 80 percent last year.

“As we previously shared in 2023, news makes up less than 3 percent of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed and is a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people,” said the company.

News organizations can still leverage products like Reels and ads systems to reach broader audiences and drive people to their website, “where they keep 100 percent of the revenue derived from outbound links on Facebook”.