Facebook to invest “at least” a billion dollars in news content in 3 years

Mark Zuckerberg’s group claims to want to inject money into the media. Facebook announced, Wednesday, February 24, to invest “at least” $ 1 billion in news content over the next three years. This new envelope, communicated on Wednesday in a blog post by Nick Clegg, the public affairs manager of the social media giant, is in addition to the $ 600 million injected into the media since 2018.

It was formalized the day after the end of a standoff between Facebook and the Australian government over a law intended to regulate relations between traditional media, in great financial difficulty, and the behemoths that dominate the internet and capture a significant portion of advertising revenue.

After blocking the publication of links to news articles from local or international media in response to the bill, the owner of Instagram and WhatsApp has finally backed down, sealing a last-minute deal with Canberra over remuneration of the media for their content broadcast on its platforms.

“We absolutely recognize that quality journalism is central to the way our societies operate, informing and empowering citizens and holding the powerful accountable.” for their actions, justifies Nick Clegg. Payments, partnerships? The leader does not give the details of the distribution of the group’s future investments in the media nor the form they will take.

“Facebook wants more than ever to partner with press editors”, says Nick Clegg, who takes the opportunity to make a mea culpa on the initial firmness of Facebook in Australia. “It was not a decision taken lightly”, he explains. “We had to make a decision quickly because it was legally necessary to do so before the law came into force. So we made a mistake in applying it too harshly. In doing so we blocked some content inadvertently. Fortunately, this was canceled quite quickly “, he concluded.