Facebook is reportedly in talks with news publishers to offer "millions of dollars" for the rights to publish their material on its site.
The move follows years of criticism over its growing monopolisation of online advertising to the detriment of the struggling news industry.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Facebook representatives had told news executives that they would pay as much as 3 million US dollars a year to license stories, headlines and other material.
Facebook declined to comment but confirmed that the company is working on launching a "news tab" for its service this autumn.
Many in the news industry have long blamed Facebook and Google for using their content for free while they benefited from the majority of digital ad dollars.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
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We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
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