The next time you look for a news story on Facebook or Instagram, there is a solid chance that the search results returned will be powered in part by Newsmax.
On Tuesday, the companies announced a new licensing agreement that will allow Facebook parent company Meta Platforms to use Newsmax’s current and archived editorial content to help train Meta’s artificial intelligence-powered search and discovery tools across its social networking services.
The licensing agreement extends to search and discovery tools powered by Meta’s AI solutions on websites and services like Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp. It will also extend to consumer devices available to purchase now and in the future from Meta Platforms, the companies affirmed.
“Newsmax applauds the significant resources Meta is putting into AI to keep America at the forefront of this emerging technology,” Christopher Ruddy, the CEO of Newsmax, said in a statement emailed to The Desk. “We are pleased to work with Meta to help ensure users have access to timely, high-quality journalism through AI technologies.”
The deal with Newsmax is the latest in an ongoing effort by Meta Platforms to license editorial content for its AI tools. In recent months, the company has inked similar agreements with News Corp, the parent company of Dow Jones and the Wall Street Journal; Warner Bros Discovery, the organization that owns CNN; Daily Caller; the Washington Examiner; Fox News Media; USA Today Company and People, Inc.
In December, executives at Meta Platforms said the licensing deals are intended to help provide more-reliable news and information to its social media platforms while compensating editorial and content producers accordingly.
“We’re committed to making Meta AI more responsive, accurate, and balanced. Real-time events can be challenging for current AI systems to keep up with, but by integrating more and different types of news sources, our aim is to improve Meta AI’s ability to deliver timely and relevant content and information with a wide variety of viewpoints and content types,” the company said. “We have consistently emphasized that our business decisions are driven by the goal of providing valuable experiences for people who use our technologies.”
Meta Platforms said the partnerships will involve linking out to a news organization’s stories and videos through its AI-powered search tools, and drawing upon written content to provide short-form, AI-generated summaries.
