Meta Axes News Tab On Facebook In U.S., Faces Backlash As Users Express Concerns Over Access To Information

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Parent company of Facebook, Meta, announced the Facebook News tab will be shut down in the United States and Australia starting April 2024.

The decision about the beloved feature comes from the company putting forth an effort to “better align our investments to our products and services people value the most.”

“As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform,” the social media conglomerate mentioned.

“We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content — they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions, and interests.”

The announcement is a continued strategy following Meta dumping the same tab in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany in late 2023. Frequent users of the feature jumped on social media to call out growing measures to keep users less informed. In 2021, Facebook allowed all users – including celebrities, politicians, brands, and news outlets – to limit who could comment on posts. “First they prevented users from commenting on news stories, now they are removing the whole News section,” @nasescobar316 wrote.

“@Meta does not want people informed. And like most Big Tech companies, they do not want to pay people who create the content.”

Users may not be able to comment, but the company assured that users will still get their news on the app. “People will still be able to view links to news articles on Facebook,” Meta said. “News publishers will continue to have access to their Facebook accounts and Pages, where they can post links to their stories and direct people to their websites, in the same way any other individual or organization can.”

The feature, launched in 2019, was first started to “bring people closer to the stories that affect their lives,” However, in the past year, the number of people using the feature has dropped by over 80% in 2023, according to CNBC. Meta has now focused on short-form video content, like Reels, as they compete intensely with TikTok.

The move also reflects on efforts other countries, like Australia and Canada, are making to force major tech platforms to pay news outlets for content. Australian legislation in 2021 required both Google and Meta to formulate deals with news outlets. Canada issued similar legislation, resulting in Meta blocking users in both regions from viewing and sharing news content.

California has considered similar moves but was put on hold.