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Facebook will discontinue the News tab in the US and Australia in early April. In a statement, Meta stated that the decision was made to remove the tab in the bookmarks section as part of the company’s efforts to “align its investments with the products and services that people value most.”
The company removed the News tab in the United Kingdom, France and Germany in December 2023 and announced that it was transferring its resources to other things that people want to see more, such as short videos.
In Meta’s new post, it was stated that the number of people using the News tab in the USA and Australia decreased by 80 percent last year. Apparently news accounts for less than three percent of what users see on Facebook. So it’s impossible to say that this is a big part of the experience. The company’s statement includes the following statements: “We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news or political content; “They come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests.”
With the decision to remove the News tab in Australia, the company will also stop paying publishers in the country for their content. This will require waiting for the completion of existing agreements. A few years ago, Facebook blocked news links in the country in response to then-proposed legislation requiring companies like Meta to pay media outlets for their content. The company unblocked news links after it started making deals with media organizations in the country.
According to the news of The Age; The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission believes Google and Meta have signed deals worth around $200 million a year with dozens of organisations, including Guardian Australia and News Corp Australia. Meta is responsible for about a third, or $66 million, of this total amount, meaning its decision will have a huge impact on the news industry in the country.
Facebook won’t make new deals with news organizations
The social media giant is not expected to change its decision. In the statement, it is clearly stated that it has been decided to remove the News tab and that new commercial agreements will not be entered into for traditional news content in the region.
However, Meta did not block news links in the above-mentioned countries, and Facebook users can still access what is shared on the social network. Publishers can also continue to post links to their stories on their official pages as usual.