Facebook is expanding its dedicated news section to more countries
It could land outside the US in six to 12 months.
Facebook’s dedicated news section rolled out in the US just a couple months ago. Now, Facebook says it will expand the news feature internationally within the next six months to a year. That’s earlier than expected, and it could arrive in the UK, Germany, France, India and/or Brazil, Facebook said in a blog post.
As in the US, Facebook will pay news publishers for their content. But the feature will likely change in other ways, to meet the consumer preferences and regulatory demands of other countries.
“Consumer habits and news inventory vary by country, so we’ll work closely with news partners in each country to tailor the experience and test ways to deliver a valuable experience for people while also honoring publishers’ business models,” wrote Campbell Brown, Facebook’s vice president of global news partnerships.
Facebook hasn’t exactly perfected the news experience in the US. It has struggled to find enough local news coverage -- partly because it ate up local newspapers’ ad dollars. And considering Facebook’s history of spreading misinformation, you might wonder if the platform is up to the task of curating reliable news stories. But the company seems committed to trying.
