Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Facebook announced on Wednesday that it plans to spend at least $ 1 billion on the news industry over the next three years.
The announcement comes just days after a heated debate with the Australian government over how much Facebook news publishers should pay for content.
“We have invested $ 600 million since 2018 to support the news industry, and we plan at least $ 1 billion more over the next three years,” said Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, in a blog published Wednesday.
“Facebook is more than willing to partner with news publishers,” said Clegg. “We absolutely recognize that quality journalism is at the heart of how open societies function – informing and empowering citizens and holding the powerful to account.”
Last month, Facebook announced deals with a number of UK publishers, including The Guardian, Telegraph Media Group, Financial Times, Daily Mail Group and Sky News. As a result, the publishers will see their content in Facebook News, a special section within the Facebook app that features curated and personalized news from hundreds of national, local and lifestyle publications.
Clegg said similar deals have been reached with publishers in the US and Facebook is negotiating with publishers in Germany and France.
Facebook blocked news pages in Australia last Wednesday after the Australian government said it would introduce a new law that would require Facebook to pay publishers for linking to their stories.
However, the ban was short-lived: Facebook signed a deal with the Australian government on Monday that will see it add news pages back to its platform.
Google also plans to release $ 1 billion in news over the next three years.
Google announced last October that it plans to pay publishers to create and manage content for a new mobile product called Google News Showcase, which will initially go live in Brazil and Germany before launching in other countries.
Publishers including Der Spiegel and Die Zeit in Germany and Folha de S. Paulo in Brazil have signed up to participate in the rollout program.
“The newspaper business model – based on advertising and subscription revenues – has evolved for over a century as the public turns to other sources,” Google CEO Sundar Pichai said in a blog post.
“The Internet has been the latest shift, and it certainly won’t be the last … We want to play our part in helping journalism in the 21st century.”