Facebook is partnering with various news and entertainment outlets like BuzzFeed and Vox Media, according to a Reuters report published Wednesday.
The social media company turned tech conglomerate plans on collaborating with the two organizations on the development and production of video content.
While the exact type of subject matter to be created is not yet known, it is likely that the featured videos (which could include news programs) will be more tailored towards liberals, given the entrenched left-leaning biases of those outlets. (RELATED: BuzzFeed’s Infamous Trump Dossier Is Facebook’s Most Read News Story In Past Year)
Facebook is reportedly planning two separate forms of entertainment. One will be scripted shows with episodes lasting the traditional 20 to 30 minutes. The other will be shorter shows with episodes spanning five to 10 minutes. Facebook is set to own the longer pieces of content, while not claiming complete proprietary rights over the shorter performances, according to Reuters. Even if the content is intended to be for entertainment purposes, aspects of the videos, whether educational or topical, could be slanted towards the left of the political spectrum.
Facebook also reportedly signed a deal with Group Nine Media, the holding company for Thrillist, NowThis and The Dodo — content providers that are popular on the platform.
The partnerships, in general, are not very surprising given Facebook’s inclination to team up with people and organizations that either have liberal tendencies or a distaste for President Donald Trump. (RELATED: BuzzFeed: White People Are A ‘Plague To The Planet’)
Facebook announced in December that the purported “mythbusting” website Snopes will be one of a few fact-checking organizations allowed to label stories as misleading or false. The Daily Caller could not identify a single Snopes fact-checker who comes from a conservative background, meaning that biases could transpire, whether purposefully or subconsciously.
The social media company announced in January that it hired former CNN anchor Campbell Brown to lead its news partnerships team. Brown is rather unabashed about her disdain for Trump. (RELATED: Facebook Hires New York Times Veteran For Fake News Battle)
The Daily Caller News Foundation (TheDCNF) reached out to Facebook to find out what kind of content will be featured, and how it came to the decision to partner with BuzzFeed and Vox Media. A company representative refused to comment on the latest Reuters report.
Instead, the spokesperson referred TheDCNF to a past official statement:
As we shared last year, we are funding some seed video content from our partners, and are evolving the initial Live deals to include other types of video content we’d like to experiment with. We want to show people what is possible on the platform and we learn best from our partners. With this program, we hope to enable creativity and experimentation with video that is community-driven and takes advantage of the social interaction unique to Facebook. In the long-term, we expect to support partners through a rev[enue] share model, like Ad Break.
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