Facebook News expands to Australian users, Facebook to spend $15m on local journalism

News 4 Aug 2021 - 2 min read

Facebook News expands to Australian users, Facebook to spend $15m on local journalism

By Sam Buckingham-Jones - Senior Writer

"In 2020, Facebook generated approximately 5.1 billion free referrals to Australian publishers worth an estimated AU$407 million," Facebook Australia's Andrew Hunter says.

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Australian users of Facebook will start to see a dedicated News tab that will provide a feed of stories from local publishers, as the platform says it will invest $15 million in public interest journalism over the next three years.

What you need to know:

Facebook has expanded Facebook News to Australia, starting with a small number of users.
Facebook News is a special tab that shows a news feed from larger local publishers.
The platform has also launched a $15 million news fund to provide targeted grants to regional newsrooms and independent journalists covering underserved communities.

Facebook has started rolling out its new Facebook News feature to “a small number” of Australians, while also launching a fund supporting regional and independent journalists.

The platform also announced a $15 million Facebook Australian News Fund – two $7.5m investments over three years directed towards regional and digital newsrooms and public interest journalism.

The Newsroom Sustainability Fund will give grants up to $250,000 to fund regional newsrooms and digital-first publications and help develop paywalls, membership programs and revenue-generating projects.

The Public Interest Journalism Fund will give grants up to $120,000 to small, regional and independent journalists to encourage media diversity. It will be aimed at journalists covering “underserved communities” like the LGBTQI+ community, Indigenous Australians, youth and women’s issues, and rural affairs.

Andrew Hunter, Head of News Partnerships for Facebook Australia, said the social network had generated 5.1 billion “free referrals” to Australian publishers worth $407 million in 2020.

“And from January to November 2020, Australian publishers generated AU$5.4 million from our revenue share programs, such as In-Stream Video advertising,” he said.

Facebook News will be expanded to more Australians in coming months.

After blocking news off its platform earlier this year, Facebook has been negotiating deals to pay publishers for their content. It finalised a deal with Guardian Australia last month.

The Sydney Morning Herald reported Facebook rejected the requests from three smaller digital publishers - Broadsheet, The Urban List and Concrete Playground - to access funding through the News Media Bargaining Code. Facebook did not give a reason for rejecting the request, but the publications speculated they did not fall within the definition to be considered news outlets.