Facebook to not allow news publishers on feed, effective from April 2024

Facebook has revealed that it would be removing the News Tab from its platform in the US and Australia in early April 2024 as part of an impending change. This move comes after Facebook stated in September 2023 that the News feature will be discontinued in the UK, France, and Germany.

The move is a component of Facebook's continuous endeavour to realign its investments with the goods and services that consumers find most valuable. Facebook claims that its users in the U.S. and Australia are using Facebook News less frequently now than they did a year ago—a decrease of more than 80% was recorded last year. According to Facebook, users are more likely to interact with others and explore new hobbies on the network than they are to read news or political items.

Users will still be able to view news stories via links published on Facebook even with the disappearance of the News Tab. News publishers will be able to post links to their stories and send readers to their websites since they will still have access to their accounts and Pages. Furthermore, publishers may reach a larger audience and increase traffic to their platforms by using tools like Reels and the advertisements system, all while keeping 100% of the money earned from outbound links on Facebook.

Facebook explained that although contracts in the US and the UK have already ended, agreements with publishers that are still in place in Australia, France, and Germany are unaffected by this decision. The business also said that it would not be pursuing new business partnerships for conventional news content in these nations, nor will it be launching any new Facebook products in the future that are targeted directly at news publishers.

Facebook underlined its dedication to provide people trustworthy information on its services in spite of these modifications. In an effort to stop false information from spreading, the corporation works with independent fact-checkers recognised by groups such as the International Fact-Checking Network. Facebook has committed to funding fact-checking initiatives with over $150 million in programmes since 2016 and intends to keep funding this field.

With the News Tab gone from Facebook's feed, the corporation has made a big strategic change to put more emphasis on user involvement and tailor its services to individual interests. It is unclear, meanwhile, how this choice will affect how news information is consumed on the platform and in the media at large.