Facebook said on Tuesday it will launch its news tab feature in Britain from next year, paying publishers for stories delivered through the world’s leading social network.
The arrival of Facebook News in January comes after the service was rolled out in the U.S. in late 2019 and is part of plans to extend it worldwide, the company said.
“With Facebook News, we will pay publishers for content that is not already on the platform, help drive new audiences, and bring publishers greater monetisation opportunities,” it added.
Titles covered in the first wave of deals include The Economist , The Guardian , The Independent and the Mirror , and local newspapers the London Evening Standard , the Manchester Evening News and the Scotsman .
Lifestyle magazines such as Cosmopolitan , GQ, Vogue and Tatler have also signed up, while there is a video partnership with Channel 4 News.
Facebook’s director of news partnerships Jesper Doub said the company was “in active negotiations” to bring the feature to France and Germany.
“We will continue to work with publishers in countries where market conditions and regulatory environments invite this kind of investment and innovation,” he added.
