Meta UK plans to end the human curation of Facebook news tabs and transition to a fully automated product
The tech giant has informed the publisher that it has decided to end its curation contract with Upday.
The Press Gazette investigation broadcast concerns about working conditions on the Facebook News tab aggregation tool It is curated by a team of approximately 15 journalists around the clock.
The decision to take the investment out of the product came when Meta tried to change Facebook’s focus from news to short videos.
Meta claims that news is no longer a priority for the Facebook platform and its users. Many controversies in the news industry
The claim stems from a desire for publishers not to pay for their content and a lack of interest in news from the tech giant.
We believe. Australia passed legislation last year forcing Meta and Google to pay for news, while Canada, the UK, Similar legislation is threatened in the US.
In 2019, Meta launched the Facebook News tab, the first to pay participating news publishers in the US for content.
The tech giant announced a three-year deal with an American publisher over the summer. This is the largest ever worth more than $20 million per year – non-renewing.
The Meta Facebook News tab is likely to end in the UK in 2024 when its three-year contract with the publisher expires. The decision to end human curation of the UK Facebook News tab supports the theory that meta is losing interest in news.
Most of the tabs are already curated by artificial intelligence, except for the main news section. All taps will be AI generated from early 2023.
Meta Publishers has been informed that it has decided to end its curation agreement with Upday, owned by German publisher Axel Springer. Last month, a press release raised concerns about a deal shortly after scrutiny.
The UK News tab has been curated by a team of about 15 journalists since its launch in January 2021, many of whom are freelancers.
Over the summer, Upday was under pressure from Metta, telling freelancers to sign a new contract banning them from working.
“Competing” media use. This has caused a stir among curators who have technically signed zero-hour contracts.
Facebook News tab insiders believe the Press Gazette said Upday’s contract runs through April 2023, but it’s unclear if she’s a freelancer the curator will work till this date.
Earlier this year, Upday lost a contract to run a German news tab amid industry concerns that Axel Springer’s ownership would hurt it.
Curation decision. In Germany, the Meta News tab contract was handed over to the press company Deutsche Presse-Agenter (DPA) without opting for automation.
A Meta spokesperson said, “We always evaluate global curation partnerships based on user and product needs. A spokesperson for Axel Springer said: “Upday’s Facebook News tab curation was a fixed-term partnership expiring in 2023.
However, this collaboration is only part of Axel Springer’s global partnership with Facebook. We cannot comment on future plans. Facebook has created a Facebook News tab in the UK.”