In the U.S. and Australia, Facebook is eliminating the News tab.

• Facebook's Meta announced that it would eliminate a specific section for news articles in April, which would impact users in the United States and Australia.
• The company has decided to remove the Facebook News tab, following its earlier announcement in September to eliminate the news section for Facebook users in the U.K., France, and Germany.
• The exit of Meta from the news distribution business has resulted in a significant decline in referral traffic for news publishers, following years of controversies related to misinformation and content moderation issues.

Facebook announced on Thursday that it would eliminate a dedicated section for news articles in April, which will impact users in the United States and Australia.

The Facebook News tab's closure was described as part of an ongoing effort to better match our investments with our most valued products and services, as stated in a corporate blog post.

"We must prioritize our efforts on content that users want to see more of on the platform, such as short form video, as stated in the blog post. In Australia and the U.S., the use of Facebook News has decreased by over 80% last year."

Meta has decided to remove the Facebook News tab, following its announcement in September to eliminate the news section for users in the U.K., France, and Germany. This move is another step in Meta's efforts to distance itself from the news industry, as it has faced several years of controversies related to how it handles misinformation and enforces content-moderation policies across its apps.

In 2019, Facebook launched Facebook News to bring people closer to the stories that impact their lives. However, the company is now shifting its resources towards short-form video content through its Reels product as it faces competition from ByteDance-owned TikTok.

Although Facebook has closed the News tab in several countries, users can still access news articles through the core app, and publishers can still access their accounts and Pages to post links and direct people to their websites, just like any other individual or organization can do.

The update will not affect any of Meta's existing Facebook News agreements with publishers in Australia, France, and Germany. The company has stated that similar news-related "deals have already expired in the US and the UK," as per the blog post.

In 2021, Meta reversed its decision to restrict publishers and people in Australia from sharing or viewing Australian and international news content after reaching an agreement with the Australian government over a law that would require tech companies to pay content fees to news outlets.

Meta announced that it will continue to invest in products and services that boost user engagement, and news organizations can still utilize products such as Reels and the ads system to expand their reach and direct visitors to their website, where they retain 100% of the revenue generated from outbound links on Facebook.

In January, CNBC reported on the negative impact on publishers due to a significant decrease in referral traffic resulting from Meta's exit from the news distribution business. This occurred after Meta announced in the summer that Canadian Facebook and Instagram users would no longer have access to news on Facebook due to a conflict between the company and the Canadian government over the passing of the Online News Act, which mandates that tech companies like Meta pay fees to news publishers in the country.

In December 2023, an analysis by Chartbeat on behalf of CNBC revealed that Facebook accounted for approximately 33% of the social traffic for 1,930 news and media websites from 370 companies, down from 50% a year prior.

In 2023, Facebook referral traffic decreased significantly for some of the top 100 global news publishers, according to a study by analytics company Similarweb.

Since 2017, Mother Jones CEO Monika Bauerlein stated that the nonprofit news publication's Facebook referrals have decreased by 99%. Despite having more followers on its Facebook page than ever before, users are seeing fewer of Mother Jones' news stories shared on the app.

According to Bauerlein, it appears that Facebook and Meta executives have decided that news is more trouble than it's worth and will show people a minimal amount of it, as indicated by the comments at the time.

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