Facebook is shutting down news tab in US and Australia

Meta, formerly known as Facebook, is making big changes to how it handles news content on its platform. It's planning to remove the news tab from Facebook in the U.S. and Australia by April 2024. This decision follows the discontinuation of Facebook News in the UK, Germany, and France last year.

The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the U.S. has dropped significantly, which influenced Meta's decision. The company wants to focus more on what users enjoy, like short-form videos, rather than news articles.

News content makes up less than 3% of what people see on their Facebook feed, so most users might not even notice this change. Over time, publishers have also noticed less traffic coming from Facebook to their websites.

This move is partly because of new regulations in countries like Australia and Canada, which require platforms like Facebook to pay online publishers for their content. Meta has decided not to invest in new news-related products and won't be making new deals with news publishers.

However, existing agreements with publishers will remain until they expire. Users in Australia and the U.S. will still be able to share news on their feeds, and publishers can manage their pages and post links as usual.

Meta is clear that it won't be focusing on news-related products in the future. Even on other platforms like Threads, which Meta launched, news won't be a priority. The company wants to invest in products that drive user engagement, but news won't be one of them.

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