Meta

Launching Facebook News, a Dedicated Destination for News, in France

By Jesper Doub, Director News Partnerships, Europe
  • Facebook News gives people control over the stories they see in the app and the ability to explore news on a wide range of topics from a variety of news outlets.
  • As part of our collaboration with l’Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale (APIG), we have signed partnership agreements with more than 100 media outlets.
  • We’re working with AFP Media Services to curate content on Facebook News in France and ensure a fair overview of news is highlighted.

Starting February 15, we’re rolling out Facebook News to people in France. Facebook News is a dedicated tab on Facebook in the bookmarks section that will spotlight news stories from a diverse range of reliable and relevant news sources. As part of our ongoing commitment to journalism and content creation at Meta, this new tab will give people a dedicated space to seek out stories that matter the most to them, whilst ensuring original reporting is given a wider reach to audiences across the country.    

As previously announced, we’re pleased to have collaborated closely with L’Alliance de la Presse d’Information Générale (APIG) to sign partnership agreements with more than 100 media outlets as part of Facebook News. The product at launch will include a strong roster of national dailies (20 Minutes, La Croix, Le Figaro, Le Journal du Dimanche, Le Parisien, Les Echos…) and local dailies and weeklies such as La Dépêche du Midi, La Provence, La Voix du Nord, Le Dauphiné Libéré, Le Progrès, Le Télégramme, Nice-Matin, or Sud Ouest. 

In addition to this, we are also announcing a number of new partners, such as BFMTV, Capital, Femme Actuelle, Gala, Geo, L’Equipe, L’Express, Libération, RMC and Voici. Thanks to our partners, we’re ensuring trustworthy, reputable stories are at the heart of our product, bringing people closer to stories that impact their lives and the community around them. We are hoping to continue adding more partners and content to Facebook News over the next weeks.

“With Facebook News, L’Équipe is very pleased that Facebook is affirming and demonstrating that journalistic content is an essential and indispensable asset in this digital world. This partnership with Facebook will allow us to offer Facebook users the best of our content within a space dedicated to quality journalistic content.” – Laurent Prud’homme, CEO of L’Equipe

“After Facebook Watch, Altice Media is delighted to launch a new partnership around the Facebook News destination in France. Through this partnership, we want to reinforce our leadership in digital and social networks, on our strong and referential themes: general and local news, sports, business and tech. With our know-how and credibility, we will contribute to improving Internet users’ access to verified, sourced, exclusive, and educational information from all our editorial offices, around our brands BFM and RMC.”
– Arthur Dreyfuss, Chairman and CEO of Altice Média France

“Cultivating proximity with our readers is a natural approach at Le Parisien. This is due to our local roots, but also to our ability to cover all the subjects that will be in the news tomorrow. To continue to satisfy the 23 million or so readers who follow us and to consolidate our power on social networks where we already have 5.3M subscribers, we are happy to participate in the launch of Facebook News in France and thus help promote quality journalism.” – Pierre Louette, Chairman of Les Echos-Le Parisien Group

“Facebook News is a recognition of professional journalism that will highlight the quality of our content. It is also a new tool to promote our articles. We hope it will allow us to continue to develop our audiences and subscribers.” – Bertrand Gié, Director of Le Figaro’s news division

“The EBRA Group and its 9 PQR titles, thanks to their journalistic excellence, have always wanted to create a relationship of trust with their readers. EBRA is happy to participate in the launch of Facebook News in order to share with the largest number of people high quality, innovative and responsible local information.” – Philippe Carli, President of EBRA Group

With Facebook News, people in France will see the top headlines and stories of the day next to news personalised to their interests. During major news cycles, the destination provides timely news digests, highlighting original and authoritative reporting on the biggest stories. Facebook News gives people control over the stories they see in the app and the ability to explore news on a wide range of topics from a variety of news outlets. News articles shared by people and Pages will continue to appear in Feed, just as they do today.

Key features of Facebook News include: 

  • Today’s stories: Catch up on the latest news chosen by a team of independent journalists as it breaks throughout the day. 
  • Personalisation: Find new outlets based on what you read, share and follow. 
  • News sections: Dive deeper into business, entertainment, health, science & tech and sport.
  • Controls: Choose the articles, topics or publishers you want to see and hide those you don’t.
  • Collections: Discover a deeper dive into major news topics, such as upcoming elections or any prominent sports event, through multiple articles and videos.

Announcing our Curation Partner in France, Media Services, an AFP subsidiary

To ensure that Facebook News is giving people an informed and reliable sense of what’s happening in the news, our tab will include content that is selected by an independent team of journalists with strong experience in a range of newsrooms. We’re pleased that we will be working with Media Services, an AFP subsidiary, as our dedicated curation partner for Facebook News, who will ensure a fair overview of news published by publishers and broadcasters is highlighted, across a variety of subject areas — from politics and world affairs to entertainment and science.

“Meta’s decision to entrust Media Services with the curation of Facebook News in France is a recognition of the experience and quality of work of our subsidiary specializing in on-demand editorial content. Trained to meet the requirements of rigor, speed and objectivity, Media Services’ journalists will select the most relevant articles from the project’s partner publishers in order to promote quality information to as many people as possible.” – AFP CEO Fabrice Fries

We built Facebook News to bring people closer to the stories that impact their lives and the community around them. Our aim is to expand our efforts to sustain great national and local journalism and create more value for publishers who choose to use our platforms to support their business objectives. We’ll continue to learn, listen and improve Facebook News as it rolls out across France. 



To help personalize content, tailor and measure ads, and provide a safer experience, we use cookies. By clicking or navigating the site, you agree to allow our collection of information on and off Facebook through cookies. Learn more, including about available controls: Cookie Policy