Meta to retire Facebook News in UK, France and Germany

Social media giant Meta said on Tuesday it would pull the plug on the Facebook News tab in December in its biggest European markets — the UK, France, and Germany.

Users of the world's biggest social media platform will still be able to read and share news on their feeds, the company said in a blog post.

But Meta would no longer support the news tab and would not enter into any more deals with publishers to supply content in those countries, which account for more than 130 million users.

The Silicon Valley titan has had several bruising legal battles across the world with legislators and media organizations accusing it and other firms of profiting from their content but giving nothing back.

Meta has barred users in Canada from seeing or sharing links to news items after the government passed legislation forcing the platform to compensate the providers.

In the blog post, Meta emphasized that its wider strategy for Facebook was to move away from news content.

"We know that people don't come to Facebook for news and political content — they come to connect with people and discover new opportunities, passions and interests," the firm wrote.

"News makes up less than three percent of what people around the world see in their Facebook feed, so news discovery is a small part of the Facebook experience for the vast majority of people."