newsd process on Big Sur downloading MASSIVE amounts of traffic

I had the same problem on two Macs, a 2019 iMac and a late 2013 MacBook Pro. Both machines were downloading up to 90GB of data a day. I hit my data cap in 8 days. I talked to Apple Support and we looked at a number of things, and we kept coming back to the newsd process. So, on the iMac, I did a reinstall of Big Sur 11.1 and on the MacBook I turned off iCloud syncing for the News app in the System Preferences (iCloud Settings).

Turning off iCloud syncing for the News app is the thing that worked and stopped the bandwidth hogging.

I believe I've managed to get it to stop. I'm not sure exactly what step I took that made the process stop, but it now behaves normally. I'll list what I did and hopefully it will help someone else.

1. Updated to macOS Big Sur 11.3. (After updating, I turned News back on in iCloud and checked the Activity Monitor. The "newsd" network process was still out of control downloading GB's of data very quickly.
2. I quit News
3. I turned News off in iCloud.
4. I opened News and cleared each of the items listed individually including the "Reset Identifier" under the "Clear History" menu from the "News" menu bar drop down. (See the attached screenshot.)
5. I unfollowed all the various publications I had initially followed when I first setup News+ back in November of 2020. (You'll find these under the "Following" section in the News sidebar. Just right click on each and choose "Unfollow Channel" from the pop up menu.)
6. I quit News, turned it back on in iCloud, then opened News, and followed whatever publications I wanted.

This worked for me!

The "newsd" process stop downloading massive amounts of data. I check the activity monitor every time I open News and it only downloads a few MB's of data per day.

Hope this helps some of you.

Cheers!

Just noticed this issue yesterday and I also have an ISP with a bandwidth limit. Doing some digging into my firewall, it looks like this has been an issue for at least a few weeks:

• 29 Dec: 79 GB
• 30 Dec: 124.2 GB
• 4 Jan: 29.67 GB
• 5 Jan: 39.44 GB
• 7 Jan: 31.4 GB
• 8 Jan: 114.49 GB
• 9 Jan: 89.82 GB
• 13 Jan: 88.51 GB
• 14 Jan: 29.08 GB

I’m hoping Apple is tracking this issue as that’s an excessive amount of data being used for exactly what, I have no idea. I’ll try turning off Apple News iCloud syncing and see if that fixes it. I’m really hoping I won’t have to reinstall macOS...

This has become an issue for me, too. On a 2018 Mac mini. So far today, this process has used 50.71GB in received data. I just finished reinstalling this machine with a fresh copy of Big Sur and manually reinstalled everything, so a clean installation does not seem to remedy the problem. This is really frustrating since my IP has a 1TB data limit. I've been forced to upgrade to unlimited data to avoid massive overages. I suppose I could shut off the computer, but then I'm constantly restarting when I want to use it. Really frustrating, Apple. Also, I've tried quitting the News app (didn't help). I tried forcing the process to end, which did help, but it seems to start up again at some point. Any help would be appreciated.

I tried Little Snitch and it worked to stop the download.

I'm going to see if this will work as well. I went to System Preferences firewall and added News to block incoming connections. I also unchecked the box for allow built-in software to receive incoming connections.

I am also having this issue. Got a letter from our ISP last month saying we were using an abnormal amount of data. We never go over our limit of 6TB. However, newsd was causing massive amounts of data downloads with our 3 Macs in our household. I have turned off News in iCloud and it seems to have stopped. It is pretty obvious when it started for us in the picture.

I'm seeing the exact same problem. Got my first ever "getting close to data limit" from my ISP. Installed TripCheck and it is showing that the newsd process has downloaded around 70GB in a day. I'm also on a 2017 5k iMac for what it's worth.

I don't use News much on the Mac either, but I do 'follow' a ton of sources. Didn't see any settings that would prevent any pre-caching or any other network related settings that might help. Going to have to block newsd for now...

I have noticed the same problem - in the end I used my firewall to block newsd from accessing the internet as, like you, i don't use News on the mac only on iOS devices. (I use LuLu not little snitch but it does the same job)

@paulfromminnetonka Same issue as you. How did you end up blocking it at the firewall? I run pfsense so keen to block my iMac until this issue is resolved (hopefully in 11.2 as suggested in this thread).

Ahhh. Little Snitch does that - you mentioned that earlier in one of your posts. Didn't know about that app until you mentioned it. Downloaded it, trialled it, loved it, it worked, bought family licence. Blocked newsd. Problem solved. Incidentally, the news app still works, but none of that silly data constantly downloading. Nice job mate. Wouldn't have gotten to this point without finding you and your helpful posts!

Funny coincidence I have similar devices, a 2020 iMac and late 2013 MacBook Pro. I have reinstalled system on MacBook Pro and turned off iCloud syncing for News app on both devices. I'm still seeing newsd using more data than I expect in Little Snitch (but no longer seeing newsd in Activity Monitor, not sure why). I'm going to reinstall system on iMac as well and hope for the best.

I too saw this in Activity Monitor. on my 2017 iMac. I "force quit" the process and will see if it comes back. I haven't even opened News on my iMac and it was uploading and downloading an incredible amount of data.

Apple needs to address this issue.

BTW, mid-JAN is when this first started to occur for me. Somewhat coinciding with my subscription to Apple One.

Thanks to the suggestions here, I was able to stop the massive amount of data usage, but I’m still stuck with my internet company salivating at the opportunity to bill us overage amounts.... and it’s not even the end of the month.

Apple customer service reps on the phone we’re very nice and recognized the troubling situation but couldn’t figure out a way to credit me for something that wasn’t purchased from them.

There couldn’t be better grounds for a class action lawsuit than this.

This is such a major issue and Apple needs to get on this.

MacBook Air I purchased this last summer is experiencing this issue as well. I’ve actually just moved overseas and, while awaiting broadband installation, I’ve been using rental “pocket WiFi” units that offer 5GB of data per day. They ran out of data every morning shortly before starting work. Couldn’t figure out what I’m earth was going on until I saw the newsd process in Activity Monitor.

I both force quit the process AND turned off News syncing in iCloud and this has not worked (though it seemed to keep things at bay for a day or so). I can actually watch the process pop back up uninvited via the Activity Monitor a few seconds after force quitting. This is absolutely INSANE.

Haven’t tried a full OS reinstall just yet (mainly because I can’t afford the bandwidth at the moment), but it looks like some folks are reporting that even that drastic step didn’t work.

At my wit’s end here...