On April 1, Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg stated in a discussion with Axel Springer’s Mathias Döpfner that Facebook may start paying news publishers for the use of news content on the platform. According to Zuckerberg, Facebook is considering creating a separate news tab that would host high-quality news content based on direct relationships with the news publishers. Facebook is reportedly not planning on charging users to read the news, but instead opting to pay publishers from its own pocket. The announcement came a few days after the European Parliament adopted the Copyright Directive that will create a Publishers’ Right in the EU, allowing news publishers to protect their content online and negotiate licensing agreements with online platforms. Read more about Zuckerberg’s announcement here.
Members of the News/Media Alliance staff have contributed to this post.
