Opinion | Facebook’s truce offer

It is not news that Facebook’s relationship with the news industry is one of discord. After all, the social media platform has posed a threat to media houses by turning into many people’s primary interface for all media engagement. Publishers have also been upset over their content being posted online, often depriving them of direct traffic (and, in turn, advertising revenues). However, Facebook’s latest move offering “millions of dollars” to news publishers for the legal right to directly publish their material on its site may help calm some nerves in that strained relationship.

According to a Wall Street Journal report, Facebook representatives have told news executives that they would pay around $3 million a year to license stories, headline-news and other forms of content. The social media company has confirmed the launch of a “news tab” this fall. Further, to sweeten the deal, Facebook would allow media outlets to decide how much of an article would appear on the site.