Meta Dropping Facebook News Tab in US, Australia

Facts

• Facebook parent company Meta announced Thursday that it will remove its section devoted to news — called Facebook News — in Australia and the US in April. Meta previously announced the same for the UK, Germany, and France.¹
• The move also ends commercial deals between Meta and Australian news publishers it signed in 2021. The agreements came after Australia enacted its news media bargaining code — prompting Meta and Google to sign deals worth hundreds of millions of dollars.²
• While Meta won't suspend existing publisher deals in Australia, France, and Germany, it said it won't renew them once they expire. Deals in the US and UK have already expired.³
• In a blog post, Meta said its Facebook News usage 'dropped by 80% last year' in the US and Australia. It also noted that publishers can 'still leverage products like Reels and our ads system' to 'drive people to their website' and 'keep 100% of the revenue.'¹
• One analysis found that 33% of traffic for 1,930 news and media websites was through Facebook as of December 2023, compared to 50% a year ago. Another found that Facebook referrals dropped by 99% since 2017.¹
• While Facebook said its decision was due to users not utilizing its platform for news, the Australian government criticized the move, adding it would turn to the Treasury to explore ways to respond via the bargaining law.⁴

Sources: ¹CNBC, ²The Guardian, ³Seeking Alpha and ⁴ABC News.

Narratives

• Narrative A, as provided by Meta. Meta is following the numbers. News content makes up just 3% of Facebook user feeds around the world, so the company is wisely shifting its investments toward things users want. News websites will still be able to share their content across the platform and, once their audience clicks on their website, these companies won't have to share a penny of the revenue with Meta.
• Narrative B, as provided by Sky News. Meta's move adversely impacts journalism. A functioning society needs a robust press to cover the stories of the day, but platforms like Facebook make it impossible for journalists to make any money doing their jobs. Governments like Australia tried working with Meta to build a fair system for publishers and the company, but Meta has decided to turn its back on principle in favor of profit.

Predictions