CEO Mark Zuckerberg said earlier this that Facebook would emphasize local news but the company has been beset by criticism about how it deals with misinformation on its network.
James Martin/CNET
Facebook is putting $4.5 million toward helping the news industry, by donating to a fund for nonprofit newsrooms and kicking off a program to help publishers that need memberships to make money.
Facebook, which earned more than $5 billion in profit in its latest three-month quarter, said earlier this year that would renew its focus on things like local news. But in the last month, Facebook has come under a wave of criticism about how it handles fake news and misinformation on its site. Much of the latest outcry has stemmed from the company’s inconsistent explanations about whether outlets like Infowars and harmful content cross the line and need to be removed.
Facebook also has a long record of exasperating traditional news outlets. Publishers in the past have complained that Facebook has built a flourishing business in part thanks to social sharing of journalism but that Facebook doesn’t shoulder the expense of producing that content nor does it share much of its rewards.
In its latest announcement, Facebook said Thursday it’s launching a $3.5 million Facebook Membership Accelerator, which is a three-month pilot program designed to help news companies with membership models.
It’s also contributing $1 million to NewsMatch, which fundraises for nonprofit newsrooms in the US.
Facebook also provided an update about its Local News Subscriptions Accelerator, which started as a $3 million, three-month pilot program to help metropolitan newspapers with digital subscriptions. The company has dedicated another $500,000 to it and it will continue to coach the group of metro news publishers from the pilot program through the end of this year.
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