Facebook on Monday said it has struggled to launch a service aimed at giving users access to local news due to a lack of local reporting in many parts of the country.
According to The Hill, critics have accused Facebook of contributing to the decline of local news as advertisers turn to the social media platform instead of small newspapers. Users around the world have started to use Facebook as their main method of consuming news.
According to research released by the social media giant on Monday, 1 in 3 U.S. users live in places where there is not enough local news to launch the service, called "Today In."
"Today In," launched last year and currently in 400 cities, aggregates information from local media outlets, government, community organizations and first responders. Users can either check their "Today In" page directly or allow the feature to promote local news on their main newsfeed.
But Facebook said it has been unable to find local news stories directly about many towns in the U.S., hindering the service's full rollout.
"Today In" has been unable to find news stories for 58 percent of users in New Jersey and 31 percent in Ohio. The company's research has found that there is not much variation by region, with so-called news deserts emerging across the Midwest, Northeast, South and West.
The tech powerhouse said it is sharing its research with leading academics studying the loss of local news.
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