US social media giant Meta announced on Tuesday that it will be ending the Facebook News tab at the end of the year in its main European markets, namely the United Kingdom, France and Germany. While users of the world’s largest social network will still be able to read and share news on their news feed, Meta will no longer support the “news” tab and will no longer enter into agreements with news publishers to provide content in those countries, which have more than 130 million users, the company said in a blog post.
The Silicon Valley giant has had several legal battles around the world with lawmakers and media organizations who accuse it, along with other digital giants, of profiting from their content without giving it back. a fair share of its advertising revenue. In Canada, Meta in early September banned users from seeing or sharing links to news articles after the government passed a law requiring the platform to compensate content providers.
In his blog post, Meta also pointed out that his overall strategy for Facebook is to move away from news content. “We know people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content — they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions, and interests,” the company wrote. “News accounts for less than 3% of what people around the world see in their Facebook News Feed, so news discovery is only a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people. people,” Meta pleaded again.
