Meta discontinues “Facebook News” in US and Australia

Meta has announced that it plans to abolish the news content tab `` Facebook News '' in Facebook's bookmarks section in the United States and Australia by early April 2024. It has already been abolished in the UK, France and Germany.

An Update on Facebook News | Meta

'Facebook News' is a feature where Meta signs a contract with a news distribution company to purchase paid news articles and distributes them for free within a dedicated Facebook tab.It was introduced in the United States in 2020, and has since expanded to other countries such as the United Kingdom. The scope was also expanded to include other countries.

However, in September 2023, it was decided that ``Facebook News will be abolished in the UK, France, and Germany as of December 2023.'' Following this, it was decided to abolish it in the United States and Australia.

An Update on Facebook News in Europe | Meta
https://about.fb.com/news/2023/09/an-update-on-facebook-news-in-europe/

According to Meta's announcement, the abolition of Facebook News is an adjustment to invest in areas that users value, and to put it bluntly, the reason is ``few users need Facebook News.'' Less than 3% of what people around the world see on their Facebook feeds is news.

The discontinuation of Facebook News coincides with the termination of Meta's contracts with news distribution companies, and Meta will no longer distribute news itself.

However, it does not prevent the New York Times and CNN, which have previously contracted with Meta in the United States, from distributing news from their own accounts, so it does not mean that ``news will stop flowing on Facebook.''

The news site The Verge has announced that Meta has partnered with the New York Times for $20 million (approximately 3 billion yen), $10 million (approximately 1.5 billion yen) with the Wall Street Journal, and $3 million (approximately 1.5 billion yen) with CNN for news distribution in the United States. It is reported that he had signed a contract worth approximately 451 million yen.

Facebook will remove its News tab and stop paying publishers for news - The Verge
https://www.theverge.com/2024/2/29/24087220/facebook-news-tab-united-states-australia

Please note that 'Facebook News' is not provided in Japan.