Traffic referrals to the top global news sites from Meta’s Facebook and X, formerly Twitter, has collapsed over the past year, according to data from Similarweb.

Why it matters: Website business models that depended on clicks from social media are now broken.

What’s happening: Regulatory pressure and free speech concerns have pushed tech giants to abandon efforts to elevate quality information, leaving the public more susceptible to misinformation ahead of the 2024 election.

  • @[email protected]
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    1 year ago

    If you click on a news link, even here, you are likely to get:

    • We “value” your privacy, please click “sure that sounds great” or spend some minutes in our opt-out game

    • Sign up for the news letter or click on “no thanks, I prefer to be ignorant

    • How would you like to pay?

    • Sorry this content is unavailable in your region because we won’t follow the euro laws.

    If click through rates from social media are dropping, it’s not just due to the social media.

    • @Buddahriffic
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      171 year ago
      • No, I don’t want you to send me notifications
      • No, don’t auto play your video (mainstream video narration sucks frankly)
      • No, don’t auto float the paused video on my screen
      • No, clicking on the X didn’t mean I want you to stop floating but start playing again
      • No, I don’t want to allow location services

      I can’t remember if it was the NBC or CBS site that did most of those on each page but it annoyed me every single time.