Meta's retreat from news distribution has upended many publications that relied on Facebook for large amounts of referral traffic. Chartbeat data showed Facebook accounted for 33% of social traffic for news sites in December 2023, down from 50% a year prior. Some sites saw referral traffic from Facebook drop 99% since its peak, forcing adaptations to find new audiences. BuzzFeed and Vice Media struggled amid the changes, with BuzzFeed shutting its news division and Vice declaring bankruptcy. News outlets have had to diversify traffic sources as Meta prioritizes connecting users over news distribution.