Meta in talks with Fox Corp, News Corp, Axel Springer over AI content licensing: report
Discussions center on licensing news content for Meta’s AI tools, signaling a potential shift after years of pausing publisher payments.
Meta Platforms is in talks with major publishers over licensing news content for its artificial intelligence tools, including the Meta AI Assistant that is embedded across Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. The discussions involve Fox Corp, News Corp and Axel Springer, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The conversations are preliminary and may not lead to formal deals, the people said.
These talks represent a notable shift for Meta, which has largely stepped back from paying publishers for content in recent years. The company previously signed deals worth tens of millions of dollars to include content from The New York Times, The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal — also owned by News Corp — in its News Tab, but in 2022 Meta announced it was phasing out those payments. A spokeswoman at the time said that most users do not come to Facebook for news, so it does not make sense to overinvest in that area. After Meta reversed course, many publishers noticed they were bringing in less traffic from Facebook. But in recent months, some publishers have said they have seen an uptick in traffic from the platform.
Fox Corp and News Corp share common ownership, a factor that could influence how any licensing arrangement would be structured. The report notes that discussions have covered licensing news and other content for use across Meta’s AI bots, with participants insisting the scope could extend beyond traditional news articles. Meta did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The conversations come as Meta has begun broader conversations about licensing with publishers beyond Reuters, which Meta signed an AI content-licensing deal with last October. The latest talks, according to the WSJ report, are part of a broader push by Meta to feed its AI models with licensed content rather than rely solely on scraped material. Some rivals have moved more quickly to secure such licenses; OpenAI has reached licensing agreements with News Corp, Axel Springer and Dotdash Meredith (now People Inc.), and Amazon has struck a deal with The New York Times.
The AI content-licensing landscape has grown more complex as publishers seek to protect their material from being used to train models without compensation. At the same time, Meta’s AI features—such as the Meta AI Assistant and related capabilities embedded across its apps—depend on large volumes of data, including news content, to enhance the usefulness and accuracy of responses. The dynamic has spurred ongoing debates about fair compensation for publishers and the proper balance between open information and monetization in AI training.
The report underscores a broader shift in the publishing ecosystem as companies reassess how to monetize digital content in an AI-driven era. OpenAI’s licensing activity with major publishers and Reuters’ own licensing arrangements illustrate a competitive field in which platforms aim to secure stable access to high-quality news and other content. As talks continue, analysts will watch for signs of concrete deals or strategic pivots from Meta that could reshape how news and other licensed content are integrated into AI tools across social networks.
If deals materialize, publishers could benefit from sustained direct compensation while Meta could gain steadier access to licensed material for its AI systems. However, experts note that any agreement would need to navigate antitrust considerations and the practicalities of distributing licensing costs across vast user bases. The broader market atmosphere, including regulatory scrutiny of AI and data practices, will likely influence the tempo and structure of any potential agreements.
Meanwhile, Meta’s ongoing push into AI content licensing comes as publishers continue to adapt to changes in traffic and monetization strategies driven by platform shifts and new AI-powered features in search and social media. The industry will likely track further developments in these licensing negotiations and any corresponding movement among other tech platforms seeking similar access to news content for AI applications.
As the discussions unfold, observers will be watching for whether Meta can translate early signaling into formal licensing deals, how those terms might be structured, and what impact—if any—the arrangements could have on traffic, visibility and revenue for publishers in an increasingly AI-centric online landscape.
