Facebook users in UK will have access to Facebook News starting from today (Tuesday), this comes after the social media giant reached a deal with UK publishers to pay for content.
The UK launch of the Facebook News service is the first outside the US. In addition to already-inked deals involving the Guardian, the Economist and hundreds of local sites, Facebook on Tuesday announced new partnerships with Channel 4 News, Daily Mail Group, DC Thomson, Financial Times, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group.
The deal, which will earn leading publishers millions, will be a financial boost as they face a bleak economic landscape, in part because such a large proportion of the ad market is now controlled by the social network.
Facebook said the investment was intended to “support the industry in building sustainable business models”.Advertisement
However, it will also be seen as a strategic play by the company aimed at discouraging wider international regulation of the news media market – by showing that it is prepared to support local publishers without government intervention.
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