HuffPost shutting down contributor section

HuffPost is shutting down its contributor platform, which has allowed more than 100,000 people to post opinions on its site since it was introduced in 2005.

The site's top editor, Lydia Polgreen, says HuffPost needs to take ownership of what it publishes. HuffPost will cast a wide net for contributors to a new curated opinion section — and these writers will be paid, Polgreen says in a statement Thursday.

She says there are many more outlets for people to express their opinions online than there were 13 years and online platforms that once seemed radically democratizing now threaten through a flood of false information to undermine democracy.

Polgreen says that when everyone has a megaphone, no one can be heard.