Facebook has begun its launch of a brand-new tab called “Facebook News” that will appear in the mobile app for a small number of people in the United States.
Facebook, in their announcement, did not mention the specific media companies they would employ. When asked by The Epoch Times for a list of such publishers, a company spokesperson said via email they are not identifying them but said the number will grow over time and will be “dynamic.”
According to the Associated Press, the news tab will display headlines from the Wall Street Journal, the Washington Post, BuzzFeed News, Business Insider, NBC, USA Today, and the Los Angeles Times, among others. Local stories from several of the largest U.S. cities will also make the grade; headlines from smaller towns are on their way, Facebook says.
Tapping on the headlines would take the user directly to the publisher’s website or app if they already had it installed.
Facebook has declined to say how much it would be paying its publishers, saying only that it would be paying “a range of publishers for access to all of their content.” Just last year, CEO Mark Zuckerberg said he wasn’t sure it “makes sense ” to pay news outlets for their material.
When asked how he would handle complaints of bias, Zuckerberg replied, “I’m sure we’re going to make mistakes.”
“But we’re approaching this in a different way than we have before. We’re building a team of people who have real experience as journalists. We’ve hired a diverse group who have different backgrounds and views and different nationalities.”
Zuckerberg was increasingly on the defensive as he addressed a wide range of concerns at the hearing conducted by the House Financial Services Committee—some of which were outside the scope of Libra, such as “deepfakes” and Facebook’s policy on fact-checking politicians—in his first appearance before Congress since April 2018.
Libra, which was first announced by Facebook earlier this year, is being created with blockchain technology and would involve working with companies such as MasterCard, Visa, and eBay. Recently, a slew of major companies, including the ones mentioned, backed out amid public criticism and concerns that the digital currency would affect national security and enable money laundering and other financial crimes.