Meta is shutting down Bulletin newsletter, TikTok is the ‘reason’ – Times of India

Facebook-parent company Meta is shutting down Bulletin, its newsletter platform that allows avid readers to subscribe and have access to content from contributors like Canadian journalist Malcolm Gladwell, political scientist Ian Bremmer, education activist Malala Yousafzai, among others. The platform also allows independent writers to sell subscriptions and monetise newsletters. A report says that Meta will shift these resources to work on its discovery algorithm to take on TikTok.
Citing a Meta spokesperson, TechCrunch reports that creators have until early 2023 to continue earning from subscriptions. In the meantime, they can also explore other options – such as Substack – to monetise their newsletters. The creators will also have access to the email addresses of all of their subscribers so that they can alert them of any change.
“Bulletin has allowed us to learn about the relationship between Creators and their audiences and how to better support them in building their community on Facebook. While this off-platform product itself is ending, we remain committed to supporting these and other Creators’ success and growth on our platform,” the spokesperson was quoted as saying.

Meta plans to take on TikTok
Meta says that it will refocus the resources from Bulletin to the discovery algorithm so that it can compete with TikTok, which the company sees as its biggest competitor in the social media space. As per an internal memo accessed by The Verge earlier this year, Tom Alison, Meta executive in charge of Facebook noted that the platform plans to prioritise recommending posts rather than showing content from accounts people follow. This is what TikTok feed looks like.
The memo also suggested that Messenger and Facebook, which were split up to work as separate apps, will be brought back together. The executives at Meta are apparently hoping that both these changes, along with an emphasis on Reels, will not only give tough competition to TikTok but also lure the younger generation back to Facebook.
The development comes a few days after a media report claimed that Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg informed during an internal call to employees about freezing hiring in the company. He also said that the company will “steadily reduce headcount growth over the next year.” The social media company is looking to cut costs amid global economic slump and it is said to be planning to bring down costs by at least 10% in the coming months.