Social network to “better align” its investments — which means less focus on news<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\nMeta today announced<\/a><\/span> that it will be pulling the plug on Facebook News in the U.K., Germany, and France starting in early December.<\/p>\nThe social networking giant said it was part of its \u201congoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most.\u201d<\/p>\n
Facebook News, for the uninitiated, is a curated news section for publishers\u00a0introduced by Meta back in 2019<\/a>, existing in its own dedicated tab within the main Facebook interface. It was first introduced in its domestic U.S. market<\/a>, before going international<\/a> starting with the U.K.<\/a>, Germany, Australia and France. The company had planned to bring the service to Brazil and India, but it seems those launches never fully materialized.<\/p>\nFacebook News surfaces local and international news relevant to each market. In its original guise, suggested articles were determined algorithmically, with a separate \u201ctop stories\u201d section curated by humans. But as of last year, Meta revealed<\/a> it was making the entire section algorithmic.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/Screenshot-2022-11-02-at-14.27.53-e1667400854645.png\")
<\/p>\nFacebook News Image Credits<\/strong>: TechCrunch<\/p>\n<\/div>\nNo news<\/h2>\n
Today\u2019s announcement is pretty much consistent with Meta\u2019s efforts elsewhere in the online news realm. While sharing news has been a major part of Facebook almost since its inception, it\u2019s clear that it has been deprioritizing it in recent years for a multitude of reasons. This includes the divisive nature of certain stories, particularly those of a political nature<\/a>, leading the company to transition more toward the so-called creator economy<\/a>. Part of this also entailed renaming its news feed<\/a> as \u201cfeed\u201d last year.<\/p>\nHowever, the bigger picture here is that there has been a broader industrial and legislative pushback against the role that social networks play in distributing news. This led to new <\/span>legislation in countries such as Australia<\/a>, which stipulates that online platforms should compensate publishers for their content \u2014 a move that seems to have worked<\/a> as the big tech companies subsequently negotiated deals with many publishers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nMore recently, Canada passed similar legislation<\/a> as part of its Online News Act, though this in fact spurred Meta to start blocking<\/a> Canadians\u2019 access to stories from news publishers. This led some to question why Meta couldn\u2019t reach similar deals<\/a> with Canadian outlets as it did in Australia, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lambasted Facebook<\/a> for its actions.<\/p>\nElsewhere, similar mandates are working their way through their various legal channels, <\/span>including the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\nIn Europe, meanwhile, the EU Copyright Directive has also led Meta<\/a> and Google to sign<\/a> various licensing deals in the past couple of years.<\/p>\n
Meta today announced<\/a><\/span> that it will be pulling the plug on Facebook News in the U.K., Germany, and France starting in early December.<\/p>\n The social networking giant said it was part of its \u201congoing effort to better align our investments to our products and services people value the most.\u201d<\/p>\n Facebook News, for the uninitiated, is a curated news section for publishers\u00a0introduced by Meta back in 2019<\/a>, existing in its own dedicated tab within the main Facebook interface. It was first introduced in its domestic U.S. market<\/a>, before going international<\/a> starting with the U.K.<\/a>, Germany, Australia and France. The company had planned to bring the service to Brazil and India, but it seems those launches never fully materialized.<\/p>\n Facebook News surfaces local and international news relevant to each market. In its original guise, suggested articles were determined algorithmically, with a separate \u201ctop stories\u201d section curated by humans. But as of last year, Meta revealed<\/a> it was making the entire section algorithmic.<\/p>\n Facebook News Image Credits<\/strong>: TechCrunch<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Today\u2019s announcement is pretty much consistent with Meta\u2019s efforts elsewhere in the online news realm. While sharing news has been a major part of Facebook almost since its inception, it\u2019s clear that it has been deprioritizing it in recent years for a multitude of reasons. This includes the divisive nature of certain stories, particularly those of a political nature<\/a>, leading the company to transition more toward the so-called creator economy<\/a>. Part of this also entailed renaming its news feed<\/a> as \u201cfeed\u201d last year.<\/p>\n However, the bigger picture here is that there has been a broader industrial and legislative pushback against the role that social networks play in distributing news. This led to new <\/span>legislation in countries such as Australia<\/a>, which stipulates that online platforms should compensate publishers for their content \u2014 a move that seems to have worked<\/a> as the big tech companies subsequently negotiated deals with many publishers.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n More recently, Canada passed similar legislation<\/a> as part of its Online News Act, though this in fact spurred Meta to start blocking<\/a> Canadians\u2019 access to stories from news publishers. This led some to question why Meta couldn\u2019t reach similar deals<\/a> with Canadian outlets as it did in Australia, while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau lambasted Facebook<\/a> for its actions.<\/p>\n Elsewhere, similar mandates are working their way through their various legal channels, <\/span>including the U.S.<\/a><\/p>\n In Europe, meanwhile, the EU Copyright Directive has also led Meta<\/a> and Google to sign<\/a> various licensing deals in the past couple of years.<\/p>\n<\/p>\nNo news<\/h2>\n