HuffPost Maghreb closes 6 years after launch
Website was first version of HuffPost to cater specifically to African audience
Rabat: The North Africa edition of US news site HuffPost, covering Morocco, Tunisia and Algeria, announced Tuesday its closure, six years after it launched.
“As of December 3rd, HuffPost Maghreb will no longer be publishing content,” the site’s homepage read, inviting readers to visit the US version.
HuffPost Maghreb was the first version of HuffPost — formerly Huffington Post — to cater specifically to an African audience.
Launched in the United States in 2005 and since rolled out in several other countries, HuffPost has since 2015 been owned by US telecoms firm Verizon.
The North African version had offices in Rabat, Tunis and Algiers, and posted content written by its own teams and outside contributors in a blog section.
No explanation was given for the closure apart from it “based on strategic reasons”, according to an internal memo seen by AFP.
It comes after a wave of layoffs at the start of the year within the parent company, symptom of a shaken business model based entirely on advertising.