Meta’s Ongoing Talks with News Organizations

Recently, Meta has been in discussions with various news organizations, including big names like Axel Springer, Fox Corp, and News Corp.

The tech giant has already rolled out several AI tools, including a chatbot called Meta AI Assistant, which users can find on Facebook, Instagram, and WhatsApp.

These conversations center around the licensing of news and other content for integration into AI bots. This information has been reported by sources familiar with the discussions.

While some of these talks may not lead to immediate deals, they signal a significant shift for Meta, the company led by Mark Zuckerberg.

It’s worth noting that Fox Corp and News Corp share common ownership, which adds another layer of interest to the discussions.

Meta has not responded to requests for comment regarding this matter.

A few years back, Meta secured a deal worth tens of millions that included content from major publications like the New York Times, Washington Post, and Wall Street Journal, all part of News Corp, for its news tab. However, in 2022, the company announced it would stop these payments to publishers. At the time, a spokesperson explained that many users didn’t come to Facebook primarily for news, which seems somewhat contradictory given previous investments.

The change led many publishers to experience a drop in traffic from Facebook, though some have noted a recent uptick in visits from the platform.

Moreover, the impact of AI on the publishing sector is profound. Some tech companies are refining large-scale language models by scraping content from various websites. Publishers are raising alarms about features that appear to be harming site traffic, such as Google’s AI summaries showing up atop search results.

Last October, Meta entered into an AI content licensing agreement with Reuters. Yet, it seems that only in recent months has the company widened its conversations with more publishers.

Meanwhile, several of Meta’s competitors have managed to establish deals with media firms more swiftly. For instance, OpenAI has reached licensing agreements with News Corp, Axel Springer, and Dotdash Meredith, while Jeff Bezos’ Amazon is also working with The New York Times.