Social media giant Facebook is pledging an additional $100 million to support local news organizations, the company said in a statement on Monday
WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th March, 2020) Social media giant Facebook is pledging an additional $100 million to support local news organizations, the company said in a statement on Monday.
"The news industry is working under extraordinary conditions to keep people informed during the COVID-19 pandemic," Facebook said in the statement. "Today we're announcing an additional $100-million investment to support journalists."
About $25 million will go towards emergency grant funding for local news groups and $75 million will be used to purchase advertising with news publications in order to support their operations, the statement said.
Facebook had previously committed to providing $1 million in grants for local news, $1 million in grants for fact-checking organizations, and a $1 million donation to the International Fact-Checking Network, the statement said.
The COVID-19 has infected more than 740,000 people worldwide and killed more than 35,000, according to Johns Hopkins University's real-time tracker. In the United States, there are more than 143,000 confirmed cases and over 2,500 deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic.
