Reporters Without Borders: Facebook Test Threatens News

Reporters Without Borders, the group that works to protect journalists, and journalism, across the globe, has asked Facebook to abandon a news feed test it is conducting in six countries, saying the change, if implemented, would imperil many media outlets. Facebook says it is testing ways to improve its news feed, a test being conducted in Sri Lanka, Bolivia, Slovakia, Serbia, Guatemala, and Cambodia. "The goal of this test is to understand if people prefer to have separate places for personal and public content," Facebook explained. "We will hear what people say about the experience to understand if it’s an idea worth pursuing any further." But Reporters Without Borders was still worried. "Under this change, news media stories no longer appear in the main 'News Feed' unless they pay to appear there," the group said. "The 'News Feed' now only shows content from the user’s 'friends' and paid content, including advertisements. News media content is relegated to a less prominent 'Explore' feed," it said in calling on Facebook to scrap the test, period.