JANUARY 22, 2026

PUBLISHER INSIDER

Your next question: what actually makes money on Facebook now?

Facebook monetization isn’t evenly distributed, and it never will be.

As platforms tighten quality, clean up AI slop, and concentrate payouts, money flows to a smaller group of content categories that advertisers actually fight over.

We’re already seeing it play out. Same formats, same strategies, wildly different payouts depending on the niche. Some pages struggle to break four figures. Others clear five figures with less effort.

That’s why your next logical step is ruthless focus: go where the ad dollars already are.

➡️ Know the top Facebook niches that keep printing money​

💎 EXCLUSIVE GUIDE

Still figuring out 2026? Start here

If January already feels chaotic, that’s because the rules changed faster than most publishers expected. Traffic patterns snapped. Monetization shifted. Platforms picked winners and losers without announcements.

We dropped a recap of what already played out in 2025 and a clear look at how publishing actually functions in 2026 based on what we’re seeing inside Facebook monetization systems, RPM data, policy reviews, and publisher operations right now.

If you publish content for a living and want to know where the money actually comes from in 2026, you have to know what to expect in the industry before making your next move.

➡️ Read our complete 2026 predictions here​

💡 Industry News

X puts $1 million on the table for the top article

X just made its loudest move yet into long-form content. X is offering a $1M payout to the top Article published on X before January 30. They launched long-form publishing, added formatting tools, layered in payouts, and now they’re doing what Elon always does when he wants behavior to change fast: massively over-incentivize it. One article, seven figures!

Worth watching closely, especially for publishers. X is making it clear that long-form writing is back on the priority list. And when one platform takes written content seriously again, others usually follow. Facebook already monetizes across text, images, video, and bonuses. Moves like this suggest articles and deeper content are about to matter more again.

➡️ Read the full article​

Facebook is restricting recommendations for “unoriginal” Pages

This one’s real, and pages are getting this violation more than ever before. We’re seeing FB pause Page recommendations if it decides your content isn’t original enough. It straight up tells you: “Your Page’s content is unoriginal. This is impacting your recommendations.” And just like that, your Page stops getting suggested to new people.

This is a big deal. Recommendations are how Pages grow now. No recommendations means no new reach, no new followers, no momentum.

What Facebook is really saying here is simple: originality is being enforced harder as they push higher-quality content in the feed. Copy-paste clips, recycled memes, and lazy reposts are getting filtered out. Add commentary, context, edits, or a real angle and you’re fine.

Facebook is considering getting rid of permanent bans

For the first time ever, Meta’s Oversight Board is reviewing how and when accounts can be permanently disabled. Why now? Because Meta has been handing out bans with weak explanations and broken. Groups, Pages, and creators alike - gone overnight. Big backlash.

Meta knows this is a problem. That’s why they sent the case to the Board themselves. They want a framework they can point to the next time someone screams “unfair ban.”

Bottom line: permanent bans aren’t going away. But Meta is trying to make them cleaner, clearer, and harder to argue with. If you’re a publisher or creator, this is an early warning. Know the rules, because soon they won’t be lenient.

➡️ Read the full article​

Google Ad systems broke and publishers lost as much as 90% overnight

This one’s ugly. As early as January 7, Google’s ad stack started failing, and publishers felt it immediately. Ad Manager, AdSense, both hit. RPMs and eCPMs fell off a cliff - we’re talking 50% to 90% drops in a single day across the US, Europe, and beyond.

This wasn’t a slow decline or a “market shift.” Rather, it was technical. Ads stopped matching. Demand disappeared. Reporting lagged. Some publishers woke up to dashboards that looked like someone pulled the plug.

The lesson keeps repeating itself: Google is powerful, but it’s fragile at scale. When everything runs through one pipe, one crack can shut the whole thing down. Publishers who’ve built secondary revenue engines (social payouts, on-platform monetization, diversified ad stacks) took the hit but kept moving. The ones fully dependent on Google felt it strongly.

➡️ Read the full article​

💭 Help Us Make This Newsletter Better for You

We build this for operators and publishers like you. Tell us what’s useful, what’s not, and what you want more of. It will only take a minute!

💰 Facebook Elite Consulting → 3 months of one-on-one guidance from our founders and team leads. Get insider playbooks, tools, and training that power millions in revenue with 90%+ profit margins. Mention this newsletter and get $1,000 off + 12 months of NewsBomb free.

🗝️ Facebook Turnkey Management → We’ll manage, grow, and monetize your Facebook properties for you and we split the revenue generated 50/50.

📚 Newsletter Archive → Browse every edition we've sent and catch up on the strategies, trend calls, and platform shifts we've already flagged before they went mainstream.

🤖 Subscribe to our Newsletter

Forward this email to a colleague who needs to level up their publishing game. It's an essential resource to stay ahead of the most important news in the publishing industry.