Nine media organisations, including the BBC, through its youth-oriented Newsbeat service, the Guardian and the New York Times, have struck a deal with Facebook to publish some of their content directly through the social network rather than simply hosting it on their own sites as part of a trial.

Facebook says the publishers will be able to keep 100 per cent of any revenue from advertising they sold directly. Publishers will also be able to sell remaining ad space via Facebook, which would take a 30 per cent cut.

The nine publishers initially participating in Instant Articles are the New York Times, National Geographic, BuzzFeed, NBC News, The Atlantic, The Guardian, BBC News, Spiegel and Bild, the German tabloid newspaper.