Rupert Murdoch: Facebook Should Pay News Outlets

Variety reports:

Rupert Murdoch weighed in on Facebook’s attempts to improve the accuracy of the news its delivers across its global platform — and suggested that what would really work is for the internet giant to follow the model of the pay-TV industry.

“If Facebook wants to recognize ‘trusted’ publishers then it should pay those publishers a carriage fee similar to the model adopted by cable companies,” Murdoch said in a statement provided by News Corp.

He continued, “The publishers are obviously enhancing the value and integrity of Facebook through their news and content but are not being adequately rewarded for those services. Carriage payments would have a minor impact on Facebook’s profits but a major impact on the prospects for publishers and journalists.”

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The statement comes over a week after Facebook announced a major change to the News Feed algorithm that will no longer favor as many posts from brands and publishers. Instead, Facebook will promote posts that are likely to encourage comments and discussion from people you’re close to.

Facebook said Friday night it would also favor news stories from “trusted” sources picked through surveys of Facebook users. However, it did not say which publishers were considered “trusted” sources and did not elaborate on its survey methods. Murdoch’s statement criticizes Facebook and Google for creating algorithms that are “inherently unreliable” for distributing news.