Facebook will move local news stories higher up in users’ feeds in its latest algorithm overhaul.
Mark Zuckerberg, the technology and publishing company’s co-founder, wrote on his profile: “Local news helps us understand the issues that matter in our communities. Research suggests that reading local news is directly correlated with civic engagement. When I travelled around the country last year, one theme people kept telling me is how much we all have in common.
“People told me they thought that if we could turn down the temperature on the more divisive issues and instead focus on concrete local issues, then we’d all make more progress,” he said.
This is the latest move by the company after it was criticised for spreading fake news articles. Earlier this month Facebook said it would demote news stories down in users’ feeds and prioritise posts from family and friends to encourage “meaningful interactions”, but this was criticised by publishers who said it was heavy handed. Facebook then said it would not penalise news outlets deemed “trustworthy” by users.
Mike Rosenberg, a reporter at The Seattle Times, wrote on Twitter: “Local papers have lost 40 per cent of all journalists in the last decade as Facebook [and Google] have taken nearly all the new digital ad revenue, leaving local news with next to nothing.”