, who at their height accounted for just under half of online traffic to news sites.' That position is shifting, the institute said in a report, partly because Meta is beginning to block news publishers from sharing content on its website and apps. In 2017 Facebook and Google together accounted for more than half of global advertising revenues. Around a third of people globally get their news from social media, according to the Reuters Institute study, with a fifth using news websites and apps run by reputable publishers.){kind=link}
Company shifts focus to short-form video as it faces stiff competition from TikTok
Facebook is shutting down a $1.6bn (£1.3bn) news funding scheme championed by Sir Nick Clegg as it grapples with the rise of TikTok.
Meta, Facebook’s parent company, said on Thursday that it was ending its Community News project in the UK, France and Germany.
A spokesman said: “We will not enter into new commercial deals for news content on Facebook News in these countries and do not expect to offer new Facebook products specifically for news publishers in the future.”
The company is instead focusing on short-form video, a format central to Instagram and in which it faces stiff competition from Chinese-owned TikTok.