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Facebook Goes ‘Local’: To Invest $300 Million Over The Next Three Years To Help Different News Initiatives
Representative image (Stephen Lam/Getty Images)
The social media giant, Facebook Inc, has revealed plans to invest $300 million over the next three years across the globe in various news initiatives, especially those that support local news outlets, reports Reuters.
“We are going to continue fighting fake news, misinformation, and low quality news on Facebook. But we also have an opportunity, and a responsibility, to help local news organisations grow and thrive,” said Facebook’s head of global news partnerships, Campell Brown.
Over the years, Facebook has faced increasing criticism for the disproportionate representation of national news outlets in users’ news feeds at the cost of smaller local news agencies. With Facebook being the primary source of news for many consumers, local stories were sidelined and smaller players were unable to raise enough revenues to support their operations.
“The industry is going through a massive transition that has been underway for a long time. None of us have quite figured out ultimately what the future of journalism is going to look like but we want to be part of helping find a solution,” added Brown.
Facebook has in recent times faced increasing backlash for its handling of fake news which led to a fall in its market cap. Reports of data breach have further dented the company’s image.
Some of the noticeable exits from the social media giant include, WhatsApp founders Brian Acton, Jan Koum and Instagram founders, Mike Krieger, Kevin Systrom. This is believed to have affected employee morale.
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