Facebook Stops Renewing US Publisher Contracts In Its Quest For Metaverse, TikTok Rivalry: Report

Meta Platforms Inc META informed U.S. publishers regarding the non-renewal of contracts to feature their content in its Facebook News tab, Axios reports.
Meta's move will affect deals worth over $100 million.
The U.K., France, Germany, and Australia deals will remain intact, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Meta had signed up multiple publishers recently, including deals worth tens of millions of dollars with news organizations like WSJ, the New York Times, and the Washington Post.
Earlier reports suggested that Facebook had reallocated resources from its News tab platform to focus on the creator economy, indicating its broader shift within the company toward the metaverse and short-form video content creators that can compete with ByteDance Ltd's TikTok.
"Most people do not come to Facebook for news, and as a business, it doesn't make sense to overinvest in areas that don't align with user preferences," a spokeswoman said.
Meta chief Mark Zuckerberg remained disappointed over global regulatory pressure forcing platforms like Facebook to pay publishers for news content.
Meta posted its first-ever decline in quarterly sales this week.
In related news, experts found it futile for Facebook to emulate TikTok.
Price Action: META shares traded higher by 0.27% at $161.16 in the premarket on the last check Friday.