The move comes amidst Meta officials’ insistence that it is moving away from hard news and political content [File]
| Photo Credit: AP

Meta shared on Thursday that it would be removing its Facebook News tab in the bookmarks section for users in the U.S. and Australia, just months after doing the same in UK, France, and Germany.

The move comes amidst Meta officials’ insistence that it is moving away from hard news and political content in order to give users the media they wish to see across its apps, including Threads and Instagram.

In addition to this, Meta is under increasing pressure in different countries such as Canada and Indonesia to pay news publishers and media outlets for showing their content on its apps.

“As a company, we have to focus our time and resources on things people tell us they want to see more of on the platform, including short form video. The number of people using Facebook News in Australia and the U.S. has dropped by over 80% last year. 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,” said Meta in its post.

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The Facebook-parent noted that the announcement would not affect its existing Facebook News agreements with publishers based in Australia, France, and Germany.

Meta also reaffirmed its commitment to its fact-checking network and content review procedures.