What Bulletin’s Closure Says About Facebook’s Creator Plans; The Fight Over Section 230 Returns

Last summer, Facebook made a splash when it announced a new newsletter publishing platform called Bulletin that would go head to head with Substack. It signed big names ranging from author Malcolm Gladwell to “Queer Eye” star Tan France, offering them unspecified multi-year licensing deals. On Tuesday, Facebook parent company Meta Platforms announced it would shut down the service by early next year. 

The news wasn’t exactly a surprise: This summer Meta said it was moving resources away from Bulletin and Facebook News, a tab showing content from news outlets. The shuttered Bulletin reflects a more cautious approach to the creator economy compared to last year, when the company quickly introduced a string of products and features. Notably, when Facebook introduced Bulletin’s first writers last year, it did so on Facebook Audio Rooms, its Clubhouse competitor. Live audio also had a short run: in May it said it would fold the feature into its video broadcasting product Facebook Live, less than a year after Facebook previewed it. In June, Facebook also shuttered its podcasting service.