Facebook News Tab labelled a ‘faux product’ set to fail

News executives continue to slam Meta’s recent decisions, with one claiming the news tab was a ‘faux product’ used to justify Facebook’s repositioning.

News outlets across the country have labelled Facebook’s news tab a “faux product” set up to fail, amid accusations the app was deliberately hidden on the site.

Tech giant Meta announced on March 1 it was closing its news tab product and axing ­financial partnerships with news organisations, prompting an array of media executives to challenge Facebook over its claim few people accessed the site to view news.

By making the news tab hard to find, and by placing limited news content in the section, ­Facebook was able to justify its argument of fewer people accessing news on the platform and, therefore, promote the idea it should no longer have to pay for the news content of ­Australian media outlets.

Last week, Meta, the parent company of Facebook, was notified by The Australian multiple users of its social media site had difficulty locating the news tab under the site’s menu section and some did not even have it ­visible on their app when they searched.

It is understood 96 per cent of Facebook users can access the news tab in their Facebook app but, after The Australian’s questions about users having problems accessing it, a company spokeswoman said the site’s internal teams had fixed the issue and “now all users should be able to see Facebook news tab in their feed”.

An example of a Facebook account which does not have the news tab its in menu options. Picture: Supplied

In some instances in recent weeks, Facebook’s news tab was completely empty, with no news content available.

Andrew Schreyer, president of Country Press Australia, which represents 230 regional and local newspapers across the country, said Facebook was never going to allow news tab to succeed.

“The Facebook news tab is a faux product that was designed to fail,” he said.

“Nobody uses it because nobody knows where to locate it.

“No regional or local news from the 230 Country Press Australia publishers has ever appeared on the Facebook News Tab, it is irrelevant to our members, and it does not display local news.”

Country Press Australia president Andrew Schreyer. Picture: Supplied

News Corp Australia’s managing director of tech partnerships and subscriptions, Nicholas Gray, said when Facebook’s news tab launched in August 2021 the site had “long e­stablished a powerful position in news distribution in Australia ­(according to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission).”

But, he said only a small portion of users accessed the News Tab to view news content.

“The overwhelming majority of news consumption and distribution on Facebook has always been, and still is, on the main feed, which will still exist and carry news after news tab is switched off,” Mr Gray said.

The news tab will be permanently removed from Facebook from April.

Others within the media industry questioned the accuracy of Facebook’s claims only 3 per cent of the content people saw in their feed were links to news ­articles.

News Corp global chief executive Robert Thomson recently ­labelled the figure “a fiction, a preposterous figure”.

“I mean, how much discussion is there around news?” he said.

News Corp is publisher of The Australian.

News Corp global chief executive Robert Thomson. Picture: Supplied

A spokeswoman for Communications Minister Michelle Rowland said the government was continuing to work with Treasury and the ACCC to consider next steps under the News Media Bargaining Code.

“Around half of all Australians use social media to access news,” the spokeswoman said.

“For one in five Australians, ­social media is their main source of news. Meta’s decision is a dereliction of responsibility to its Australian users and the sustainability of the news media sector.”

On Wednesday night Sky News Australia will air an investigation at 8.30pm AEDT called Tech Tyrants: Facebook’s War on Australia, which delves into Meta’s battle with ­Australian news outlets.