Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg.
Andrew Caballero-Reynolds | AFP | Getty Images
Facebook announced Wednesday that it plans to invest at least $ 1 billion in the information industry over the next three years.
The announcement comes just days after a heated debate with the Australian government over how much Facebook should pay news publishers for content.
“We’ve invested $ 600 million since 2018 to support the news industry and we plan at least $ 1 billion more over the next three years,” Nick Clegg, Facebook’s vice president of global affairs, said in a blog post published Wednesday.
“Facebook is more than willing to partner with news editors,” Clegg added. “We absolutely recognize that quality journalism is at the heart of the functioning of open societies: informing and empowering citizens and making the powerful accountable.”
Last month, Facebook announced deals with several UK publishers, including The Guardian, Telegraph Media Group, Financial Times, Daily Mail Group and Sky News. As a result, publishers will see their content on Facebook News, which is a section dedicated to the Facebook app that includes personalized and curated news from hundreds of national, local, and lifestyle posts.
Clegg said similar agreements have been reached with U.S. publishers and that Facebook is in negotiations with publishers in Germany and France.
Facebook blocked news pages in Australia last Wednesday after the Australian government said it would introduce a new law that would force Facebook to pay publishers to link to their stories.
The ban was short-lived, however, with Facebook closing a deal with the Australian government on Monday that will make it re-add news pages to its platform.
Google also plans to invest $ 1 billion in news over the next three years.
Google announced last October that it plans to pay publishers to create and retain content for a new mobile product called the Google News Showcase, which will initially be released in Brazil and Germany before being released in other countries.
Publishers such as Der Spiegel and Die Zeit in Germany and Folha de S.Paulo in Brazil have signed up to be part of the launch program.
“The newspaper business model, based on ads and subscription revenue, has been evolving for over a century as the public has turned to other sources,” said Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google, in a block.
“The Internet has been the last change and it certainly won’t be the last … We want to play our part in helping journalism in the 21st century.”