Meta in Talks With Fox Corp, News Corp, Axel Springer Over AI Content Licensing

Meta Platforms is in early talks with Fox Corp, News Corp and Axel Springer over licensing news content for its artificial intelligence tools, according to a Wall Street Journal report cited by The New York Post. The discussions have centered on licensing news and other material for use across Meta's AI bots, including the Meta AI Assistant embedded across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. Some of the talks are in early stages and may not result in deals. The move could signal a shift for Meta, which in recent years has distanced itself from paying publishers for content used in its services.

Historically, Meta paid publishers tens of millions of dollars to feature content from The New York Times, Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal in its News Tab, but in 2022 Meta said it would phase out those payments. A spokesperson at the time said most users do not come to Facebook for news and that the company would not overinvest in a news product. After those changes, some publishers reported declines in traffic from Facebook, though in recent months some have noted traffic upticks.

Meta has begun broader conversations about licensing with more publishers in recent months, following an AI content licensing deal with Reuters announced last October. In the broader market, rivals have moved faster to strike licensing deals. OpenAI has licensing agreements with News Corp, Axel Springer and Dotdash Meredith, now known as People Inc, while Jeff Bezos's Amazon also has a deal with the New York Times. The aim, industry observers say, is to secure access to licensed material that can power AI systems and lend sources for AI-generated outputs, as publishers seek compensation for use of their content in training data.

Experts note that the scope and size of any potential agreements remain unclear, and negotiations continue to evolve alongside a rapidly changing AI landscape. Meta did not respond to requests for comment. The Wall Street Journal report cited by The New York Post notes that some talks are preliminary, and there is no guarantee of deals being reached. The development underscores a broader push by publishers to navigate licensing for AI while defending their own digital business against the rising influence of AI-powered content.

The conversations come as Meta aims to balance its reporting of news and the broader utility of its AI tools with the realities of how publishers monetize content in an era of AI-driven discovery. Some publishers have previously observed a drop in referral traffic from Facebook after the company reduced or ended payments for news in the early 2020s, a dynamic that publishers say is gradually shifting as platforms reassess partnerships. The ongoing discussions could help determine whether Meta will pay publishers again for access to news content for AI use, and if so, on what terms and for how long.

The fact that Meta is engaging with multiple large publishers while other tech firms have already secured licensing deals highlights how quickly licensing models are evolving as AI tools proliferate. OpenAI, for instance, has reached licensing agreements with News Corp, Axel Springer and Dotdash Meredith, now known as People Inc, while Amazon has also pursued licensing with the New York Times, illustrating a broader industry trend toward monetizing training data and AI outputs. Analysts caution that the details of such arrangements—whether they cover training data, live indexing, or how AI outputs cite licensed material—remain critical questions that will shape negotiations going forward.

Meta did not respond to requests for comment. The discussions, which are ongoing, reflect how large tech platforms are rethinking their long-standing stance on paying publishers for content used in AI tools and how publishers are seeking revenue models in return for access to their licensed material.