Facebook to invest USD1 billion in Australia’s news industry

Facebook pledged to invest at least USD1 billion in the news industry to support journalism over the next three years, after a dispute with the Australian government over payments to news publishers for content. 

According to Nick Clegg, vice president of global affairs at Facebook, the social media giant is willing to partner with news publishers and Facebook recognises quality journalism is at the core of how open societies function, informing and empowering citizens and holding the powerful account. 

Since 2018, Facebook has invested USD600 million.

Recently, Facebook came under fire after it blanked out the pages of media outlets for Australian users and blocked them from accessing and sharing any news content, but since then has restored news pages in Australia, ending an unprecedented blackout for a week after the government agreed on changes to tweak proposed legislation that would help publishers negotiate payments.

The brief blackout affected the global news industry, which has already seen its business model overturn by the tech giants. Even some of the non-news content got unknowingly blocked when it banned all news content. 

Google also pledged to pay news publishers roughly USD1 billion for news over the next three years. The tech giant has already signed content licensing deals with Australian media companies and says that it has made arrangements with over 50 publishers in the country and over 500 globally.