Facebook reportedly reconsidering paying news publishers for content
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Facebook parent company Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) is reportedly reconsidering its practice of paying news organizations for content in a move that could upend many news outlets revenue streams.
According to the Wall Street Journal (NWSA), Facebook (META) has yet to provide the Journal, the New York Times (NYT), the Washington Post and other news companies with plans to continue with current content arrangements that are set to expire within a matter of months. The Journal said Facebook (META) originally signed three-year deals with several news outlets in 2019 that including paying those companies and featuring their content without a paywall on Facebook's (META) site. The Journal said "people familiar with the matter" said Facebook (META) could look to renew the deals under new terms, or let the deals expire at the end of their current terms.
Facebook's (META) involvement was seen as a step in boosting the news industry at a time of declining ad dollars and traditional print subscriptions. According to the Journal, Facebook (META) has paid average annual fees of more than $15M to the Washington Post, at least $20M to the New York Times (NYT) and more than $10M to the Journal itself under the current deals.
One of the issues affecting Facebook's (META) news commitment is said to be Chief Executive Mark Zuckerberg's feelings about growing regulatory efforts to force the likes of Facebook (META), Google parent Alphabet (GOOG) and other platforms to pay publishers for any content they make available on their services.
In a changing-of-the-guard type of event, Meta (META) dropped its longtime FB ticker symbol this week and on Thursday began trading under the META symbol.