Six years after it began operations, Rest of World, the nonprofit newsroom covering technology beyond the Western world, has announced plans to end its independent operations by the end of January 2027.
The publication’s founder, Sophie Schmidt, daughter of former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who committed $60 million to the project she described as her “life’s project,” informed donors of the decision.
The publication is now seeking a new institutional home that can provide financial backing and potentially preserve its brand.
Rina Chandran, deputy editor at Rest of World, confirmed the development in a LinkedIn post on Monday.
“Yes, it’s true, Rest of World is shutting down,” she wrote. “After six years of award-winning reporting, our leadership is searching for a new home for the publication that was launched to cover innovation outside the West.”
The development comes as AI-powered search tools change how people find information online, adding to the challenges facing digital publishers that depend on website traffic.
The news is a troubling sign for independent journalism. Rest of World was established to bring attention to technology stories that rarely received sufficient coverage in Western media. Now, it is struggling to reach readers in an online environment where search engines and social platforms are changing how people discover news.
How declining search and social referrals put pressure on the newsroom
According to some reports, Rest of World’s traffic has fallen sharply over the past 18 months, with fewer visitors arriving through search engines and social media. These channels have traditionally helped online publications reach readers beyond their existing audiences.
However, social media platforms have changed how they distribute content, while search engines increasingly provide answers directly on search results pages. Both developments can reduce the number of people who click through to publishers’ websites.
AI-powered tools are also contributing to this shift. Google’s AI Overviews and chatbots such as ChatGPT can summarise information from online sources, allowing users to find answers without necessarily visiting the websites that published the original reporting.
The wider industry is facing similar challenges. The Reuters Institute for the Study of Journalism’s 2026 report found that publishers expected traffic from search engines to decline by more than 40% over the following three years. The report also recorded a 43% decline in Facebook referrals and a 46% decline in X referrals to publishers over the preceding three years.
These figures reflect broader industry trends, not just Rest of World’s individual traffic data.
In one of TechMedia Africa’s special reports, titled The internet no longer begins with Google search, we detailed how many internet users who would ordinarily have turned to Google Search are increasingly directing their queries to AI chatbots.
The decline in search traffic is also affecting major publications. For instance, data cited by The New York Times shows that monthly digital traffic to The Washington Post and The Wall Street Journal has continued to decline since 2022.
The Washington Post’s monthly traffic fell below 40 million visits last year, from more than 70 million in 2022. The Wall Street Journal experienced a similar decline, with its monthly online visits falling to comparable levels.
Declining search traffic has also put pressure on publishers’ revenues, contributing to cost-cutting measures, including layoffs, as seen at The Washington Post in recent months.