The logos of Facebook and Google apps are displayed on a tablet.
Denis Charlet | AFP via Getty Images
LONDON – Facebook has announced that it will roll out its Facebook News product in the UK on Tuesday and pay publishers for their content.
Facebook News is a dedicated section within the Facebook app that features curated and personalized news from hundreds of national, local and lifestyle publications.
The product, which competes with Apple News, was launched in the US last June and the UK is the second country to get access to it.
Facebook claims the product delivers “informative, reliable and relevant news” to users “while emphasizing original and authoritative coverage on pressing topics.”
Jesper Doub, Facebook’s European director of news partnerships, said in a blog post on Tuesday, “This is the start of a series of international investments in news.”
He added, “The product is a multi-year investment that will bring original journalism to new audiences and provide publishers with more advertising and subscription options to build sustainable businesses for the future.”
Facebook announced the launch of Facebook News in the UK in November, saying it would feature content from media partners including Conde Nast, Hearst, The Economist and Guardian Media Group.
On Tuesday, Facebook said it has now signed up with Channel 4 News, Daily Mail Group, DC Thomson, Financial Times, Sky News and Telegraph Media Group.
Some of the content that is normally behind a paywall is available to watch for free on Facebook News, which is expected to appear in more countries this year.
“We will continue to learn, listen and improve Facebook News as it rolls out in the UK and to other markets, including France and Germany, where we actively negotiate with partners,” said Doub.
Tech giants such as Facebook and Google are under increasing pressure to pay media companies for their content.
A Facebook spokesperson told CNBC that the company will pay certain UK publications to post their content on Facebook News, but he was unable to reveal how much.
“We will pay a number of publishers to participate in Facebook News,” he said. “We pay for content not yet on the platform to get a diverse range of coverage on a range of topics.”
He added, “Monetization for the majority of publishers that appear in Facebook News will be similar to monetization through other Facebook tabs, from referral traffic to your sites or ads in Instant Articles, driving people forced to go against a paywall. “
Google’s struggle
Last week, Google signed a deal to pay French publishers and news agencies for their content.
The agreement comes after several months of talks between Google France and the media groups represented by the French lobby of the Alliance de la Presse d’Information Generale.
Google said it would negotiate individual licenses with members of the alliance covering related rights and open access to a new cellular service from the company called News Showcase.
The search giant said last year it would pay news outlets for the first time, a cover from the internet giant that had refused to do so for years. The company agreed to a series of initial deals in Germany, Australia and Brazil, and now appears to be expanding that into France.
But when the Australian government proposed a new law that would force Google and Facebook to pay news publishers for the right to link to their content, Google threatened to pull its widely used search engine out of the country.
“Coupled with the unmanageable financial and operational risk if this version of the code were to become law, it would give us no choice but to no longer make Google Search available in Australia,” said Mel Silva, general manager of Google Australia and New. Zealand, a senate committee told last week.
Scott Morrison, the Australian Prime Minister, told a press conference “we do not respond to threats”.
– Additional reporting by CNBC’s Ryan Browne.