Facebook will no longer pay publishers to host their content on the platform’s “News Tab.”
The Wall Street Journal reported last week that the deal that originally began in 2019 is coming to an end. Senior executive Campbell Brown thanked staffers for “the incredible, impactful and challenging work this Partnerships team has done to build out these experiences over the last several years.”
“For a lot of us—this was a labor of love and I know it’s hard to see these products put on the backburner,” she added. “These are products that have delivered tremendous value for our partners and our users.”
The platform plans to focus more on “creative” efforts instead of the news.
"A lot has changed since we signed deals three years ago to test bringing additional news links to Facebook News in the U.S. Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a Facebook spokesperson told Axios.
According to Axios, Facebook paid news companies $105 million for the ability to post their articles on the platform and paid $90 million for news segments posted in the “Watch” tab of Facebook.
“Meta spent more than $10 million on its news partnership with the Wall Street Journal, more than $3 million on its deal with CNN, and more than $20 million on its partnership with the New York Times,” Axios reported.
Some news publishers will reportedly still be paid by Facebook for the service, but it looks like legacy media have been cut off.
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