THE FACEBOOK SCALES BACK CONTENT

Meta will shut down Facebook News in early April for users in the US and Australia as the platform increases focus on news and politics. This feature was closed in the United Kingdom, France, and Germany last year. Launched in 2019, the News tab curates headlines from national and international news organizations, as well as smaller local publications. Click here to follow our WhatsApp channel Meta says users will still be able to view links to news articles, and news organizations will still be able to publish and promote their stories and websites, as any other individual or organization can on Facebook   The change comes as Meta tries to reduce news and political content on its platforms after years of criticism over how it handles misinformation and whether it contributes to political polarization. "This change doesn't affect posts from the accounts people choose to follow, it affects what the system recommends, and people can control if they want more," Meta spokesman Danny Lever said. “This announcement extends years of work on how we approach and engage with political content based on what people tell us they want.” Meta said the change to the “News” tab does not affect the fact-checking and misinformation review network.   But misinformation remains a challenge for the company, especially with the US presidential election and other races underway. “Facebook never envisioned itself as a political platform,” said Sarah Krebs, director of technology policy. “It was run by people in technology. Then suddenly it started expanding and they found themselves immersed in politics, and they themselves became headlines.” An institute at Cornell Brooks School of Public Policy that studies technology policy and how new technologies evolve over time. “I think with so many big elections coming up this year, it's not surprising that Facebook is taking another step away from politics so as not to inadvertently become a major political headline.”   The dissolution of the News tab is not surprising for news organizations, which have seen Facebook traffic to their websites decline for several years, prompting organizations to focus on other ways to engage audiences, such as search and newsletters, said Rick Edmonds, a media analyst at Poynter. .