Facebook signs partners for German News Product, Springer refuses

Facebook has signed up a string of German media partners to provide content for a local news product. However, the publisher of the best-selling newspaper in the country said it would not take part on the terms mentioned. 

According to media reports, Facebook News will feature reporting from heavyweight weeklies Die Zeit and Der Spiegel, and dailies like the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Handelsblatt and Tagesspiegel.

However Axel Springer, the publisher from the private equity house KKR responsible for putting out the Bild tabloid and conservative broadsheet Die Welt said it would not be joining.

According to media reports, Springer said it'll prefer to rely on European copyright rules which allows all publishers to receive appropriate remuneration. 

This comes in after Facebook News' back and forth with Australian publishers. Since then, Facebook has said it will invest $1 billion in news over the next three years.

Facebook News has already launched in the United States and Britain, and will follow soon in France.