Facebook to launch news subscription model later this year

Facebook will start trying a paywall for its Instant Articles product in October.

Speaking at the Digital Publishing Innovation Summit yesterday, Facebook's head of news partnerships Campbell Brown said that the platform was launching a subscription product to satisfy newspaper and digital publishers.

The plan is to steer readers to the publisher's home page so they can subscribe and to erect a paywall that will require readers to subscribe after 10 articles.

"We are in early talks with several news publishers about how we might better support subscription business models on Facebook," Brown said. "As part of the Facebook Journalism Project, we are taking the time to work closely together with our partners and understand their needs."

This announcement follows the formation of The News Media Alliance, a trade organisation of nearly 2,000 publishers that aims to lobby Congress for a limited antitrust exemption.

Reportedly, Facebook is already testing this model with several publishers.