Facebook says it will invest $100M to support the news industry during COVID-19: $25M in emergency funding for local news and $75M in additional marketing spend

With grants and marketing spending, the social media giant hopes to support outlets doing essential local reporting but struggling with a drop in advertising.

New York Times 2020-03-30 Marc Tracy

Context & Ripple Effects

This package extends a pattern: Facebook's $300M local news commitment in early 2019 already positioned the company as a funder of local journalism, and this announcement scales that role into crisis relief just as COVID-19 ad spending collapses.

It also lands days after Facebook's $100M grant-and-ad-credit program for 30,000 small businesses, making news the second sector to receive a dedicated relief package within two weeks — and giving the company a cumulative investment figure it would later cite in the Australia news-bargaining fight.

First-order effects

Local outlets facing an advertising cliff get $25M in emergency grant funding, with Facebook deciding which newsrooms qualify as 'essential local reporting.'
The $75M in additional marketing spend routes directly to publishers as paid placements, partially offsetting the ad-revenue drop while keeping the dollars inside Facebook's own ad ecosystem.

Second-order effects

Rival platforms face pressure to announce comparable news-relief packages or cede the 'supporter of journalism' positioning Facebook is accumulating.
Publishers accepting Facebook grants and marketing dollars deepen their dependence on the same platform whose ad dominance is draining their direct revenue.

Third-order effects

Platform-funded journalism hardens into a lobbying asset: Facebook's later claim of $600M invested since 2018 and a further $1B pledged shows relief spending being banked as regulatory capital against mandatory news-payment rules.
If the pattern holds, news-industry relief becomes a recurring line item for platforms — discretionary today, but a likely negotiating chip in every future bargaining or antitrust fight over news content.

The trend: Platforms are converting news-relief spending into reputational and regulatory leverage ahead of mandatory payment-for-news fights, with each grant doubling as an argument that voluntary funding makes regulation unnecessary.

Discussion

@peretti Jonah Peretti on x
Facebook Aims $100 Million at Media Hit by the Coronavirus — Quality, publicly accessible journalism is essential to public heath, the Coronavirus crisis is hitting publications hard, this support is timely and needed 👏👏👏 https://www.nytimes.com/...
@joshjame Josh Jamerson on x
Campbell Brown, $FB head of news partnerships & former CNN anchor, on its cash for newsrooms: “Advertising money is shrinking fast and even though news consumption is up, it is not making up for those losses, so we are trying to help bridge that gap.” https://www.wsj.com/...
@campbell_brown Campbell Brown on x
Journalists are working around the clock to bring us vital information about the coronavirus outbreak. Today, Facebook is announcing a $100 million investment to support news organizations and reporters as they navigate the economic impact of the crisis. https://www.facebook.com/…
@learmonth Michael Learmonth on x
How about a rev share on advertising? A system to deliver subscribers? https://www.facebook.com/...
@gavmorris Gaven Morris on x
Let's say-as an extraordinary measure in these #coronavirus days-@Facebook committed 10 percent of annual profit (equivalent to the gdp commitment of some governments) to recovery, supporting journalism and content creators that make the stuff it sells: that'd be $700 million: ht…
@sofus_d Jesper Doub on x
These challenging times require strong and independent journalism! We are expanding our efforts to support the News Industry with additional $100 million. https://www.facebook.com/...
@brianstelter Brian Stelter on x
Just announced by Facebook: $100 million in new funding to “support news industry during the coronavirus crisis.” $25 million in direct grant funding, $75 million in marketing $$ since other advertisers are pulling ads https://www.facebook.com/...

Chronicles