Facebook will also stop paying publishers for news as it continues to invest in products and services that ‘drive user engagement’ on its platform.
Meta says it will stop showing the News tab on Facebook in Australia and the US starting early next month to focus more on short-form video content.
While this means the dedicated tab in the bookmarks section of the Meta-owned platform will no longer be available for use, Facebook confirmed in an announcement yesterday (29 February) that users will still be able to see news on their Facebook feed.
News organisations will continue to have access to their Facebook accounts and Pages, where they can post links to their stories and direct people to their websites, and they will still be able to post Reels and use the company’s ads system to reach broader audiences and drive people to their website.
“This is part of an ongoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most,” Facebook said.
According to the company, the number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the US dropped by more than 80pc last year.
“We have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short-form video. We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content – they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests.”
Last September, Facebook announced that the News tab had been deprecated in the UK, France and Germany. But it confirmed yesterday that the latest news does not impact existing news agreements with publishers in Australia, France and Germany until they expire.
Last summer, Meta said it was planning to end access to news on Facebook and Instagram in Canada after the country’s Online News Act received Royal Assent by the governor general.
As of December, Canada said it will keep pushing Meta and other Big Tech companies to pay Canadian news publishers for their content. Google, meanwhile, agreed to pay millions for news in Canada.
Yesterday, Facebook said that it will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content – in other words, it will stop paying publishers for news – in Australia and the US as it continues to invest in products and services that “drive user engagement”.
Earlier this week, Meta faced renewed criticism from consumer groups for its new ‘consent-or-pay’ subscription model which makes users consent to personalised ads if they’re not willing to buy a subscription.
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