January 26, 2021: Facebook will start to roll out its Facebook News product in the U.K. on Tuesday and pay the publishers for their content.

News is a dedicated section within the Facebook app that features personalized news from many national, local, and lifestyle publications.

The product in competition with Apple News launched in the U.S. in June; the U.K. was the second country to get access to it.

The product includes reliable and relevant news and information, highlighting original reporting on pressing topics and Facebook claims.

Facebook’s European director of news partnership, Jesper Doub, said, “The product is a multi-year investment that brings original journalism in front of new audiences and providing publishers with more advertising and subscription opportunities to build durable businesses for the future.”

On Tuesday, Facebook signed up Channel 4 News, Daily Mail Group, DC Thomson, Financial Times, Sky News, and Telegraph Media Group said Facebook. 

Some content that is usually behind a paywall is free to view on Facebook News, which will be launched in more countries this year.

Tech giants like Facebook and Google are under increasing pressure to pay media companies for their content.

“We will pay publishers to participate in Facebook News,” A spokesperson said. “We’re paying for the content which is not already on the platform to achieve a diverse set of coverage around a range of topic areas.”

He added: “Monetization for the majority of publishers appearing in it will be similar to monetization via other Facebook tabs, from referral traffic to your sites or ads in Instant Articles, pushing people to hit a paywall.”