Facebook
will test limiting the number of published news stories that can be read for
free on its Instant Articles platform for premium publishers, US media reported
on
Wednesday.
The leading
social network has become a major source of news for people, triggering
complaints by publishers that they lose control and revenue when their stories
are shared free at Facebook.
A paywall is
under construction in Facebook’s Instant Articles section where the social
network has agreements with select outlets to publish directly to the platform,
according to a story initially published online at TheStreet
The service
was launched two years ago and competes with Google’s AMP that also optimizes
content from select media for mobile web browsing.
Facebook
head of news partnerships Campbell Brown said at a digital publishing
conference in New York on Tuesday that the social network is responding to
publishers’ concerns with the move, TheStreet reported.
Facebook in
October will begin testing a feature that limits to 10 the number of stories
that can be accessed in its “Instant Articles” section and guides readers to
publisher home pages to consider buying subscriptions, according to media
reports.
California-based
Facebook did not respond to an AFP request for comment.
Instant
Articles aggregates published stories and quickly loads mobile pages to cater
to smartphone or tablet users.
“One of the
things we heard in our initial meetings from many newspapers and digital
publishers is that ‘we want a subscription product — we want to be able to see
a paywall in Facebook,” TheStreet quoted Brown as saying at the conference.
“And that is
something we’re doing now.”
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