The social media behemoth revealed intentions to discontinue Facebook News for users in the US and Australia in early April, underscoring Meta’s continued efforts to disassociate itself from news and political material. Following the company’s removal of the News tab in Germany, France, and the UK last year, this decision was made.
When the News tab was introduced in 2019, it was intended to collect headlines from smaller, local media together with larger, international news sources. This way, users would have a dedicated area on Facebook to read news material. But Meta appears to be strategically moving away from emphasising news and political material on its platforms, based on its recent activities.
News organisations can continue to post and promote their stories and websites on Facebook, just like any other individual or organisation, and users will still be able to read links to news pieces, according to Meta. On the other hand, the News tab will be unavailable.
This move is a part of Meta’s larger strategy to reduce the amount of news and political content on its platforms, which comes after years of criticism for the way it handles false information and worries about how it can exacerbate political polarisation. A representative for Meta, Dani Lever, underlined that this action is consistent with the company’s continuous attempts to modify its strategy for handling political content in response to user input.
“This change does not impact posts from accounts people choose to follow; it impacts what the system recommends, and people can control if they want more,” Lever said. “This announcement expands on years of work on how we approach and treat political content based on what people have told us they wanted.”
Additionally, Meta has made it clear that this move has no bearing on its network for fact-checking and reviewing disinformation. The firm acknowledges that disinformation continues to be a concern, particularly as other elections and the US presidential election get near.
According to Meta, the percentage of users in Australia and the US who use Facebook News decreased by more than 80% in the previous year, despite the fact that news material makes up less than 3% of what users view in their feeds globally.
But for many users, social media sites—especially Facebook and Instagram—remain important places to get news. According to a recent Pew Research study, half of US adults acquire news from social media at least occasionally. The most popular site is Facebook, where three out of ten US adults routinely get news.
As Meta continues to navigate the complexities of content moderation and user preferences, the decision to sunset Facebook News serves as a reflection of the company’s evolving strategy, prioritizing user control and tailoring its approach to political content based on feedback from its user base.
