The Vice President for Global Affairs and Communications at Facebook since 2018, Nick Clegg, recently made comments on Facebook on the Telegraph which is the national British newspaper in London. Nick Clegg has said that Facebook should be treated as something different and not as a publisher.
It has come to notice that Facebook rolled out a new tab that will showcase news content according to the preferences of the 51 million UK users of Facebook. Each user has also been given the feature to personalize the news as they please and pick only those areas of news in which they are interested in. This includes Facebook hiring paid publishers for their content and it will also be paying journalists to pick out stories and articles of interest that will be expected to appear on the news tab every day to keep the users entertained. The news section will deliver a variety of news from different categories such as entertainment, health, beauty, business and local news. Nick thinks that this move is a big step for Facebook’s reach towards journalism.
There hasn’t been much liking for Facebook’s this particular move. Facebook has partnered up with some of the most famous publishers like the Daily Mail, Telegraph and the Financial Times. This has however started the discussion of whether huge social media platforms like such should be treated like publishers or not. Nick claims that there will be no such thing as one front page headliners but different front page headlines of all the news according to the individual’s personalized taste. He also says that Facebook has the power and it actually does use it for concealing content that may be considered as a step too much and also plays a role in removing anything that can harm its platform and its users, but this statement was not given much heed to and especially when the former Lib Dem leader said that Facebook is actually failing in destroying any such thing which may be harmful to its users.
The British politician also the former secretary of state for education Nicky Morgan says that in her view Facebook is a publisher if they unlock such features.
Damian Green, a member of the Digital and Culture Media and Short Committee says that even though Facebook might say that it is not a publisher but with this plan it might be considered as one in every way.
Not everyone has opposed to it, there are some experts who have agreed with Clegg's views.
Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Read next: Facebook Users Are Having Their Phone Numbers Sold Online Via A Telegram Bot
It has come to notice that Facebook rolled out a new tab that will showcase news content according to the preferences of the 51 million UK users of Facebook. Each user has also been given the feature to personalize the news as they please and pick only those areas of news in which they are interested in. This includes Facebook hiring paid publishers for their content and it will also be paying journalists to pick out stories and articles of interest that will be expected to appear on the news tab every day to keep the users entertained. The news section will deliver a variety of news from different categories such as entertainment, health, beauty, business and local news. Nick thinks that this move is a big step for Facebook’s reach towards journalism.
There hasn’t been much liking for Facebook’s this particular move. Facebook has partnered up with some of the most famous publishers like the Daily Mail, Telegraph and the Financial Times. This has however started the discussion of whether huge social media platforms like such should be treated like publishers or not. Nick claims that there will be no such thing as one front page headliners but different front page headlines of all the news according to the individual’s personalized taste. He also says that Facebook has the power and it actually does use it for concealing content that may be considered as a step too much and also plays a role in removing anything that can harm its platform and its users, but this statement was not given much heed to and especially when the former Lib Dem leader said that Facebook is actually failing in destroying any such thing which may be harmful to its users.
The British politician also the former secretary of state for education Nicky Morgan says that in her view Facebook is a publisher if they unlock such features.
Damian Green, a member of the Digital and Culture Media and Short Committee says that even though Facebook might say that it is not a publisher but with this plan it might be considered as one in every way.
Not everyone has opposed to it, there are some experts who have agreed with Clegg's views.
Credit: AFP via Getty Images
Read next: Facebook Users Are Having Their Phone Numbers Sold Online Via A Telegram Bot
