Facebook will remove its News tab, and stop paying publishers for news

Facebook News US launch promo | Image: Facebook

Facebook’s News tab launched in 2019 with millions of dollars in content deals for publishers (a reported $10 million for the Wall Street Journal, $20 million for the New York Times, and $3 million for CNN), but in April it’s going away for good. Meta says it will “deprecate” Facebook News in the US and Australia in April 2024, it won’t enter new commercial deals for news, and it “will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future.”

A support page for Facebook News drops the “deprecate” wording and is much more direct about its earlier European shutdown and what’s next for the US and Australia:

Facebook News, located in the News tab, is no longer available in The United Kingdom, France and Germany....

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