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Meta puts Facebook News in the attic. The news section in Mark Zuckerberg’s social media bookmarks will be discontinued in the United States and Australia from April 2024. A move that follows a similar decision in September 2023 to eliminate the service in the United Kingdom, France and Germany. The company has justified this choice as part of an ongoing effort to better align investments with the products and services most appreciated by users, but it is only the latest chapter in a series of initiatives aimed at penalizing the weight that news sites have on Meta’s social feed.
Facebook feed: news is less than 3%
The decision, in fact, also comes in the wake of the notable decrease in the use of Facebook News, which has seen a decline in users of over 80% in the last year in Australia and the United States. According to Meta in the press release, this trend indicates that people are not turning to Facebook for news or political content, but to connect with other individuals and discover new opportunities, passions and interests. According to data reported by the company, news makes up less than 3% of what users see in their Facebook feed globally.
I go back for the newspapers
Despite the divestment of Facebook News, Meta explains, this change will not affect other products and services. Users will be able to see links to news articles on Facebook in their newsfeed, and publishers will continue to have access to their accounts and Pages as always. Deprived of the opportunity to monetize through Facebook News, newspapers will have to rely on traditional methods (posts, stories, reels) to publish news and use external links to increase traffic to the sites.
Social media’s lack of interest in publishing is growing
Meta then clarified that the divestment of Facebook News in these countries will not affect the terms of existing agreements with publishers in Australia, France and Germany, specifying that these agreements have already expired in the United States and the United Kingdom. The company also announced that it will not enter into new commercial deals for traditional news content in these states and that it will not offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future, reflecting the social media’s growing disinterest in the publishing sector , with whom he has had numerous disagreements in recent years. The company specified that collaborations with existing third-party fact checkers will remain in place to continue the fight against misinformation.