• by Ray Schultz , September 24, 2023

The Intercept, a nonprofit news organization devoted to investigative journalism, has seen its visits from its Facebook page drop by 83%, and visits from Facebook fall by more than half.  

The revelations were made by Ryan Grim, D.C. Bureau Chief, in a plea for contributions. 

The Intercept needs to raise $400,000 in reader donations by September 30 “to expand our coverage and face down an array of other challenges, from rising costs and billionaire lawsuits to simple news burnout,” Grim writes. 

Calling this “the point of no return,” Grim adds, “Your support will make sure we can stay in the fight — and that we don’t depend on Mark Zuckerberg to do it.”  

Grim continues, “Social media platforms like Facebook are escalating their efforts to get real news — politically troublesome tales of greed and corruption — out of your feed. They’ve decided it’s bad for business when users leave their walled garden to read a long article instead of continuously scrolling through Facebook.” 

In a related development, the head of CBC/Radio Canada predicts that Meta and Alphabet will drop news in other countries if forced to pay publishers for using their content. Meta has done so in Canada.

Catherine Tait, CEO of CBC/Radio Canada, said she “absolutely believes” the tech giants are prepared to cease linking to news content, Deadline reports.