New Delhi: Meta has been engaged in advanced discussions with several major media companies, including Axel Springer, Fox Corp. and News Corp. to license news content for artificial intelligence (AI) products. Wall Street Journal and Reuters.
The negotiations show the strategic change of the social media giant. This has gradually reduced with a focus on the news distribution in recent years. Meta had previously signed a multi-million dollar deal with publishers Wall Street Journal and New York Times Provides content on the Facebook News tab. However, in 2022, we reduced these payments. This is a move that has caused a sudden drop in traffic for many publishers who rely on referrals from Facebook.
When competitors pursue similar initiatives, new pushes arise. Google is reportedly recruiting publishers for AI-related licensing projects, but AI search company Perplexity has committed $42.5 million to a revenue sharing program that compensates media houses when accessing content via the Comet browser or AI assistant.
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Content licensing talks are consistent with Meta's broader push to accelerate its AI strategy. Earlier this month, the company completed a $14.3 billion investment in scale AI, earning a 49% stake in the San Francisco-based data signing provider. The deal valued AI at almost $29 billion and highlighted Meta's commitment to building sophisticated AI infrastructure.
CEO Mark Zuckerberg places AI at the heart of Meta's growth roadmap. The company forecasts capital expenditures of between $66 billion and $72 billion in 2025, with a significant share dedicated to AI-related infrastructure. That AI unit has recently been reorganized under “Superintelligence Labs,” following the departure of senior executives and the lukewarm reception to the latest model, the Llama 4.
Industry analysts will help the meta strengthen the reliability and relevance of AI products by protecting news content licenses, while opening new monetization opportunities for publishers whose digital revenue has been sluggish in recent years.
