Say goodbye to the Facebook News tab
RIP to Facebook's News tab. My friend's moms loved you so much.
Next month, Meta will get rid of Facebook News, its news hub located in the platform's bookmarks section, in the U.S. and Australia. It already got rid of Facebook News in the UK, France, and Germany, and this move should come as no surprise to anyone who's been following Meta's continued attempts to distance its platforms from politics and news.
The company said it's getting rid of the tab to "focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short-form video." That's right folks, no more news on Facebook so the platform can spend more time and money on Reels.
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"We know that people don’t come to Facebook for news and political content — they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests," Meta said in a blog post. "As we previously shared in 2023, news makes up less than 3 percent of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed, and is a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people."
You'll still be able to view links to news articles and follow news publishers on their Facebook pages and accounts. But the news tab garnered millions of dollars in content deals for publishers, which will all be going away. As the blog post said, there will be no new commercial deals for news, and it won't offer any "new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future."
If you, for some reason, want to download your Facebooks News data, visit your Facebook information in your profile settings.
Christianna Silva is a senior culture reporter covering social platforms and the creator economy, with a focus on the intersection of social media, politics, and the economic systems that govern us. Since joining Mashable in 2021, they have reported extensively on meme creators, content moderation, and the nature of online creation under capitalism.
Before joining Mashable, they worked as an editor at NPR and MTV News, a reporter at Teen Vogue and VICE News, and as a stablehand at a mini-horse farm. You can follow her on Bluesky @christiannaj.bsky.social and Instagram @christianna_j.
