عربي English Türkçe اردو فارسى
Logo
Latest News
Technology

Meta to Drop ‘Facebook News’ Tab in Some European Countries

Meta and Facebook logos are seen in this illustration taken February 15, 2022. (Reuters)
Meta and Facebook logos are seen in this illustration taken February 15, 2022. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Meta to Drop ‘Facebook News’ Tab in Some European Countries

Meta and Facebook logos are seen in this illustration taken February 15, 2022. (Reuters)
Meta and Facebook logos are seen in this illustration taken February 15, 2022. (Reuters)

Meta Platforms said on Tuesday it will discontinue the "Facebook News" feature on its social media app in the UK, France and Germany, later this year.

Users will still be able to view links to news articles and European news publishers will continue to have access to their Facebook accounts and pages after the change is implemented in December, Meta said.

However, Facebook will not form new commercial deals for news content on "Facebook News", nor offer product innovations for news publishers in these countries.

"Facebook News", which curates a feed of news articles, is a dedicated tab in the bookmarks section of the Facebook app.

"News makes up less than 3% 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," Meta said in a blog post.

Along with Big Tech peer Alphabet, the company has come under increasing pressure from lawmakers around the world to share a higher percentage of its advertising revenue with news publishers.

Meta has started blocking news on its Facebook and Instagram platforms for all users in Canada in response to a new law requiring internet giants to pay news publishers. Australia implemented a similar law in 2021.

Most Viewed

 
Technology

Nvidia Reiterates Its Chips Have No Backdoors, Urges US Against Location Verification 

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)
The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)
TT
20
TT

Nvidia Reiterates Its Chips Have No Backdoors, Urges US Against Location Verification 

The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)
The logo of Nvidia Corporation is seen during the annual Computex computer exhibition in Taipei, Taiwan May 30, 2017. (Reuters)

Nvidia has published a blog post reiterating that its chips did not have backdoors or kill switches and appealed to US policymakers to forgo such ideas saying it would be a "gift" to hackers and hostile actors.

The blog post, which was published on Tuesday in both English and Chinese, comes a week after the Chinese government summoned the US artificial intelligence (AI) chip giant to a meeting saying it was concerned by a US proposal for advanced chips sold abroad to be equipped with tracking and positioning functions.

The White House and both houses of US Congress have proposed the idea of requiring US chip firms to include location verification technology with their chips to prevent them from being diverted to countries where US export laws ban sales.

The separate bills and White House recommendation have not become a formal rule, and no technical requirements have been established.

"Embedding backdoors and kill switches into chips would be a gift to hackers and hostile actors. It would undermine global digital infrastructure and fracture trust in US technology," Nvidia said.

It had said last week its products have no backdoors that would allow remote access or control.

A backdoor refers to a hidden method of bypassing normal authentication or security controls.

Nvidia emphasized that "there is no such thing as a 'good' secret backdoor - only dangerous vulnerabilities that need to be eliminated."