Meta signs $50 million annual AI content licensing deal with News Corp for model training

Meta signs a multimillion dollar AI licensing deal with News Corp

Meta has signed an AI licensing deal with News Corp that will allow the Meta AI maker to use content from The Wall Street Journal and other brands in its chatbot responses and for training of its AI models. News Corp confirmed to Engadget that it had struck a deal with Meta, but didn't provide specifics on the terms of the arrangement. According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta will pay News Corp. "up to $50 million a year" for a three-year deal that covers content from The Journal, as well as the media giant's other brands in the US and UK. News Corp previously struck a five-year deal with OpenAI that was valued at around $250 million. During a recent appearance at Morgan Stanley's annual Technology, Media & Telecom (TMT) conference, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson hinted that the media company was in the "advanced stage with other negotiations." He described the company's overall approach to such arrangements as "a woo and a sue" strategy, depending on whether companies want to pay for content or scrape it without permission. "We have what you might call a woo and a sue strategy," he said. "We'll woo you. We'd like you to be our partner. But if you're stealing our stuff, we are going to sue you. So there'll be a discount for those who hand themselves in, and there'll be a penalty for those that resist."

News Corp says media is a valuable 'input' for AI as US$50m content deal inked with Meta

Chief executive Robert Thomson says he often speaks to both OpenAI's Sam Altman and Meta's Mark Zuckerberg News Corp's global chief executive has described news organisations as a valuable "input" for artificial intelligence, as the media empire signs a US$50m a year AI content licensing deal with Meta. In an upbeat presentation, the chief executive of Rupert Murdoch's company, Robert Thomson, said the "reliable" breaking news and information in publications like the Australian, the Times of London and Dow Jones was "hard to beat" as an "input" for AI. The Meta deal, which was revealed by the Murdoch-owned Wall Street Journal earlier this week, will allow Facebook and Instagram's parent company to scrape News Corp's US and UK content to train its artificial-intelligence products. The outlets include the Journal, and the New York Post however the Australian mastheads which include the Daily Telegraph and the Herald Sun are not part of the deal. "We're essentially an input company," Thomson told a Morgan Stanley tech conference in San Francisco on Monday 2 March ahead of the landmark Meta deal. "The great threat in the age of AI is going to be to what you might call output companies. We're an input in the way that semiconductors are an input, in the way that datacentres are an input, in the way that energy is an input. "You look at breaking news, you look at unique real estate information." Thomson, who signed a $US250m, five-year deal with OpenAI in 2024 said the opportunities AI offered for news organisations were greater than the risks. He said he took a "woo or sue" approach - in which he welcomed deals with AI companies but he would sue them if they took the publisher's content illegally. Thomson said he had a good relationship with Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, and spoke to him often, as he did with Mark Zuckerberg, the chief executive of Meta: "Mark and I converse on a pretty regular basis, across WhatsApp, obviously". In Australia, News Corp has taken a more adversarial approach to social media companies, blaming them for social cohesion issues across the globe. News Corp Australia's executive chair, Michael Miller, called for media to present a united front against the platforms and AI companies seeking content for free. News Corp has embraced the use of AI in its journalism as well. The Australian arm of the business introduced an in-house AI tool called "NewsGPT", which some journalists have expressed concern about. The news media has seen artificial intelligence and its integration into search engines as a threat to the sustainability of professional journalism as Google has integrated AI into search which has reduced the number of people who click through into news websites. The 2024 deal with ChatGPT developer OpenAI brought news content from the Journal, the Post, the Times and the Sunday Times to the artificial intelligence platform. Other publications, including the New York Times, have taken a different tack: suing OpenAI and Microsoft, the startup's key backer, over the use of its content to train generative AI and large-language model systems. Meta made a multibillion-dollar investment into AI infrastructure last year, announcing a deal worth up to $US6bn with Corning, a manufacturer of complex materials for telecoms and electronics, to supply fibre optic cables for the tech company's datacentres.

Meta signs $150 million AI content deal with News Corp

Meta signed a multi-year artificial intelligence licensing agreement with News Corp to utilize content from The Wall Street Journal and other News Corp publications. The deal allows Meta to use the publisher's content for chatbot responses and AI model training. This agreement represents a significant financial commitment in the ongoing effort by tech companies to secure licensed data for generative AI systems. News Corp has previously established similar arrangements with other major AI developers. According to The Wall Street Journal, Meta will pay News Corp up to $50 million annually under the three-year contract. The agreement covers content from The Journal and other News Corp brands in the United States and United Kingdom. News Corp confirmed the deal to Engadget but did not disclose specific financial terms. A Meta spokesperson also confirmed the agreement, noting that Meta has signed multiple multi-year licensing deals in recent months. These previous agreements include outlets such as USA Today, People, CNN, and Fox News. Meta stated that integrating diverse news sources aims to improve Meta AI's ability to deliver timely and relevant content. The company said the goal is to provide a wide variety of viewpoints and content types through these partnerships. News Corp previously signed a five-year licensing deal with OpenAI valued at approximately $250 million. During a recent appearance at the Morgan Stanley TMT conference, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson discussed the company's content strategy. Thomson stated the company was in advanced negotiations with other parties. Thomson described the company's approach as a "woo and a sue" strategy regarding content licensing. "We have what you might call a woo and a sue strategy," Thomson said. "We'll woo you. We'd like you to be our partner. But if you're stealing our stuff, we are going to sue you." News Corp is the parent company of The Wall Street Journal and other major media brands. Meta has been reorganizing its AI teams as it works to develop its next model.

Meta, NewsCorp in AI content licensing deal worth up to $50 million annually - The Economic Times

Meta Platforms has agreed a multiyear AI content licensing deal with News Corp, reportedly worth up to $50 million annually. The three-year agreement allows Meta to use US and UK content for artificial-intelligence products and training. Chief executive Robert Thomson confirmed further negotiations are under way.Facebook and Instagram parent Meta Platforms has signed a multiyear AI content licensing deal with News Corp, according to a report in the Wall Street Journal, which is a part of News Corp. The social media company, which also owns messaging platform WhatsApp, will pay the Wall Street Journal's owner up to $50 million a year under the agreement. The Meta-News Corp deal, which is set to run for at least three years, gives Meta the right to use News Corp content from the US and the UK. Meta can retrieve new information for users of its artificial-intelligence products and to train its AI models on other content, such as story archives. News Corp chief executive Robert Thomson highlighted the deal on Monday during a presentation at a Morgan Stanley conference, according to the Wall Street Journal. "We have one very public horizontal deal," he said, adding that the company is at "an advanced stage" in other negotiations and "you won't have too long to wait" for additional details. According to the Journal, News Corp struck a content partnership with OpenAI in 2024, a deal believed to be worth more than $250 million over five years. Meta also began reaching out to media groups last year to secure AI content licensing agreements. It has since confirmed deals with People Inc, USA Today, CNN and Fox News, although the financial terms were not revealed by the company. News organisations are taking different approaches in dealing with AI companies. Some are signing partnerships to ensure they are paid for use of their content, while others are turning to the courts, WSJ said. Two News Corp subsidiaries have filed copyright infringement cases against Perplexity. At the same time, The New York Times has sued OpenAI and Microsoft over copyright concerns. It has also entered into a separate AI licensing agreement with Amazon, reportedly worth between $20 million and $25 million a year.

Meta Reportedly Signs $50 Million News Corp Deal As Big Tech's AI Content Arms Race Heats Up - Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META), News (NASDAQ:NWS)

Meta Platforms, Inc. (NASDAQ:META) signed an artificial-intelligence content licensing deal with News Corp (NASDAQ:NWSA) (NASDAQ:NWS) that will pay the media company up to $50 million a year, underscoring how aggressively Big Tech is now paying for journalism to help power chatbots and other AI tools. Three-Year Deal Opens US, UK Archives The agreement will run at least three years and gives Meta access to News Corp content from the United States and the United Kingdom, reported The Wall Street Journal on Tuesday, citing people familiar with the matter. The deal allows Meta to pull fresh reporting for users of its AI products and to train systems on additional material, including archives. Meta, OpenAI Race To Lock Content News Corp already cut a separate AI deal in 2024 with OpenAI that the Journal said could be worth more than $250 million over five years. OpenAI has also inked news partnerships with publishers including The Associated Press, Le Monde and Prisa Media, among others. Price Action: Meta shares rose 0.23% during Tuesday's regular session but fell 0.14% in after-hours trading to $654.15, according to Benzinga Pro. News Corp's Class A shares fell 0.67% during Tuesday's regular session and climbed 1.64% in after-hours trading, while Class B shares declined 0.72% during the session and went up 1.65% in extended trading. META earns a strong Quality rating in Benzinga's Edge Stock Rankings, though its price trend remains negative across the short, medium and long-term periods. Photo Courtesy: 24K-Production on Shutterstock.com Market News and Data brought to you by Benzinga APIs To add Benzinga News as your preferred source on Google, click here.

Meta Signs AI Content Licensing Agreement With News Corp

Meta Platforms has signed a three-year AI content licensing deal with News Corp worth up to $50 million per year, according to a Wall Street Journal report, one of News Corp's subsidiaries. The agreement will allow Meta to use News Corp's news content, including archives, to retrieve real-time information about current events for its AI products and also to train its AI models. Several Indian news publishers are also seeking to make AI companies pay for the content they use, sometimes illegally and without permission, for AI training. Some of the publications owned by News Corp. are: News Corp also owns HarperCollins and Realtor.com, an online marketplace for real estate. However, this Meta deal is only about news-related content. Apart from this deal, News Corp. already signed an AI licensing deal with OpenAI in 2024, reportedly worth more than $250 million over five years. In the same year, it also signed an AI training deal with Microsoft. On the contrary, News Corp. filed a copyright infringement lawsuit against Perplexity AI in October 2024. It claimed that the chatbot produced a partial verbatim of the copyright-protected news content. Their complaint in the US district court sought statutory damages of up to $150,000 per infringed work. Similarly, Meta has also had content licensing deals with several publications like CNN, Fox News, Le Monde Group, People Inc., and USA TODAY Co., Inc. Along with Meta, Wikipedia announced in January 2026 that it had signed an agreement with Microsoft, Perplexity, and Mistral AI for AI training. Earlier, in March 2024, when various countries, including the UK, France, Germany, and Australia, mandated that Meta pay news publishers for their news content, Meta completely removed the news section from Facebook. Therefore, this deal with News Corp. and several other media publications marks a significant shift in how Meta plans to pay news publishers, particularly for AI training. Similar to various global content licensing deals, there are growing concerns among Indian news publishers about AI companies using journalistic content without fair compensation or a licensing fee. Speaking at the India AI Impact Summit 2026, Mohit Jain, Chief Operating Officer and board member at Bennett, Coleman & Co. Ltd, said journalistic content should not be treated as freely available internet data. "Journalistic content is not like free-floating content on the internet. It is intellectual property... data has to be contracted. It cannot be surrendered," he said Similarly, India Today Group's Vice Chairperson, Kalli Purie, also called for transparency on how AI companies use their copyright-protected news content in their AI models. News publishers also asked to differentiate news content from generic online content. For instance, Tanmay Maheshwari, Managing Director of Amar Ujala, urged AI companies to label original, verified content and create a digital signature for AI-generated outputs. In another session at the AI Impact Summit, speakers discussed provenance (the place of origin of something), specifically in the context of deepfake or synthetically generated content, and the Indian government mandates that AI companies and platforms implement a labelling mechanism for users to distinguish AI-generated and human-generated content. In November 2024, Asian News International (ANI) filed a lawsuit against OpenAI in the Delhi High Court (HC), alleging that the company had used its published content to train its large language models (LLMs) without authorisation and requesting that OpenAI delete ANI's data that might already be stored on the platform. During a hearing that month, the AI company told the court it would stop using ANI's content, but complying with any directive to remove the training data behind its ChatGPT service would conflict with its legal obligations in the United States. However, the news agency argued that ChatGPT had already retained its published works, asking the AI company to remove its copyright-protected content from its database. Later, in January 2025, the Federation of Indian Publishers also filed an intervention application to join the same case, alleging copyright infringement without compensation. Similarly, in August 2025, the Digital News Publishers Association (DNPA), which represents news publications like the Indian Express, India Today, Hindustan Times, Malayalam Manorama, Eenadu, etc., also joined the same OpenAI vs ANI lawsuit, arguing that OpenAI "scrapes, stores, and reproduces" news articles from its members without paying any license fee or attribution. However, after hearing their arguments, the Delhi HC is yet to deliver its final judgement in this case.

News Corp strikes $50M per year AI licensing deal with Meta

News Corp. has struck a multiyear AI content licensing deal with Meta that will pay The Post's parent company up to $50 million a year. The agreement -- set to run at least three years -- allows Meta to use copyrighted content from News Corp's US and UK media properties, people familiar with the matter told the Wall Street Journal. The deal highlights the growing value that technology companies are placing on news content as they race to build artificial-intelligence tools. Meta has been signing similar licensing agreements with publishers as it builds out its artificial intelligence products, including deals with People Inc., USA Today, CNN and Fox News, according to the Journal. Terms of those arrangements were not disclosed. A Meta spokesperson confirmed to The Post on Wednesday that the company reached an agreement with News Corp, "but I have nothing further to share at this time." News Corp CEO Robert Thomson hinted at additional agreements during a presentation Monday at the Morgan Stanley Technology, Media & Telecom Conference. "We have one very public horizontal deal," Thomson said, adding the company is "at an advanced stage with other negotiations" and that "you won't have too long to wait." Meta has been signing similar licensing agreements with publishers as it builds out its artificial-intelligence products, including deals with People Inc., USA Today, CNN and Fox News, according to the Journal. Terms of those arrangements were not disclosed. "We're beginning to offer a wider variety of real-time content on Meta AI -- from global, breaking news to entertainment, lifestyle stories, and more," the company said in a December blog post announcing its deals with other media entities. "When you ask Meta AI news-related questions, you'll now receive information and links that draw from more diverse content sources to help you discover timely and relevant content tailored to your interests." Meta added: "We'll continue to add new partnerships and explore new features to enhance the experience for the people who use our products." News Corp previously signed a content deal with OpenAI in 2024 that was expected to be worth more than $250 million over five years, the Journal reported. News organizations have taken a multipronged approach to AI companies -- striking licensing partnerships with some to get paid for their work while suing others they accuse of ripping off their content. Two of News Corp's subsidiaries -- The Journal's parent company Dow Jones and The Post -- have sued AI startup Perplexity for copyright infringement. Other publishers have also turned to the courts, including The New York Times, which has sued OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. At the same time, the Times last year signed an AI licensing agreement with Amazon that the Journal previously reported was worth between $20 million and $25 million a year.

Meta signs massive AI deal with News Corp

Meta has inked a deal to pay News Corp up to US$50 million a year to use its content for the tech giant's AI products. The deal between the companies, valued at AU$71 million, will run for at least three years and allow the Facebook owner to use the media giant's US and UK news content, sources told the Wall Street Journal. Meta will be able to retrieve information and content, including story archives, from News Corp, the owner of Sky News Australia, to train its AI products. Earlier this week, News Corp CEO Robert Thomson said the company was in advanced negotiations with AI giants for content deals. "You won't have too long to wait," Mr Thomson told a Morgan Stanley investor conference. "And what we are also finding is that more of these vertical specialists are coming to us because the data and the information and the news that they input has to be reliable. "It's hard to beat the Times of London or The Australian or Dow Jones, obviously, as an input. "And it might be agricultural information. We own The Weekly Times in Australia, the best known agricultural masthead. And if you're interested in creating an agricultural vertical of some kind, you need reliable information." The deal with Meta comes as major news organisations look to strike deals with AI giants that use their content. News Corp signed a deal in 2024 with ChatGPT-owner OpenAI worth more than US$250 million over five years. The company also signed a deal with AI journalism start-up Symbolic.ai in early 2025. Meta approached various US media companies about AI licensing deals last year. The tech giant said it has signed deals with Fox News, CNN, USA Today and People Inc. among other companies. While some media companies pursue deals with AI giants, others are suing them over intellectual property rights. The New York Times is suing OpenAI and Microsoft for copyright infringement. However, it has struck a deal with Amazon, reportedly worth between US$20 million and US$25 million. News Corp's Australian boss Michael Miller warned that 2026 would be a "make or break" year as it confronts the major shifts AI will bring to news media. "This moment has been coming for a while. It's the impact of AI, which is being seen at every company, but particularly at media companies that continue to get their content trawled and scraped," Mr Miller told The Australian. "It's the rapid rise of video on social, and how broadcasters are responding to that. "It's the regulation of big tech, and it's the inevitable M&A. There are fewer and fewer local players in the media, but more and more global players in this market."

Meta signs AI content deal with News Corp worth up to $50M annually By Investing.com

Investing.com -- Meta Platforms (NASDAQ:META) has entered into a multiyear artificial intelligence content licensing agreement with News Corp that will compensate the media company up to $50 million per year, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal, citing people familiar with the matter. The agreement will span at least three years and grants Meta access to News Corp's content from the United States and the United Kingdom. The deal enables Meta to retrieve new information for users of its artificial intelligence products and to train on additional content, including story archives. The financial terms of the Meta agreement demonstrate the growing value technology companies are assigning to news content that has been used to train their AI models. These companies also rely on such content to deliver users real-time information about current events through chatbots and other tools. News Corp owns the Wall Street Journal among other media properties. This article was generated with the support of AI and reviewed by an editor. For more information see our T&C.