Facebook Could Respond to New European Copyright Rules by Hosting Paid News
Facebook Chief Executive Officer Mark Zuckerberg said that the company is considering building a dedicated tab on the social network for news, and is willing to pay publishers for high-quality content.
“It’s important to me that we help people get trustworthy news and find solutions that help journalists around the world do their important work,” Zuckerberg said in a discussion with Axel Springer SE CEO Mathias Doepfner, who runs the largest publisher in Europe.
Previously, Facebook was focusing on friends and family content
in the news feed. Facebook’s news feed algorithm had emphasized content that spurs sharing. The result has been an ongoing effort by the news industry and gave rise to internet clickbait and misinformation.
But Zuckerberg now seems to be ready to follow a different path, since the company is facing new European Union copyright rules that will require them to compensate publishers and creators for the news articles, songs and videos that appear on the social network.