Meta on Tuesday began telling its news partners in the U.S. that the company no longer plans to pay publishers for their content to run on Facebook's News Tab, sources tell Axios.
Why it matters: As the company moves forward with sweeping changes to the Facebook experience, news has become less of a priority.
Catch up quick: Facebook brokered a slew of three-year deals with publishers in 2019. At the time, the company was ramping up its investment in news and hired journalists to help direct publisher traffic to its new tab for news.
What they're saying: "A lot has changed since we signed deals three years ago to test bringing additional news links to Facebook News in the U.S. Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business it doesn't make sense to over-invest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a Facebook spokesperson told Axios.
Be smart: The $105 million spent on additional news content for the News Tab was for incremental links. News companies could still publish content to the Facebook platform at will.
The big picture: Facebook has gone back and forth about the role news should play on its platform for years, which sometimes frustrated news partners.
Between the lines: The regulatory pressure that prompted some of these news deals continues around the globe.
What's next: As Meta shifts its focus to short-form video, other investments in projects such as audio are being sunsetted.

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