diff --git a/src/plugins/kibana_overview/kibana.json b/src/plugins/kibana_overview/kibana.json
index 9ddcaabdaed6..d7829cb5f88b 100644
--- a/src/plugins/kibana_overview/kibana.json
+++ b/src/plugins/kibana_overview/kibana.json
@@ -4,6 +4,6 @@
   "server": false,
   "ui": true,
   "requiredPlugins": ["navigation", "data", "home"],
-  "optionalPlugins": ["newsfeed"],
-  "requiredBundles": ["kibanaReact", "newsfeed"]
+  "optionalPlugins": [],
+  "requiredBundles": ["kibanaReact"]
 }
diff --git a/src/plugins/newsfeed/common/constants.ts b/src/plugins/newsfeed/common/constants.ts
index 7716ad24aa84..6131fc7ced29 100644
--- a/src/plugins/newsfeed/common/constants.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/newsfeed/common/constants.ts
@@ -23,6 +23,6 @@ export const NEWSFEED_FALLBACK_MAIN_INTERVAL = 120000; // 2 minutes
 export const NEWSFEED_LAST_FETCH_STORAGE_KEY = 'newsfeed.lastfetchtime';
 export const NEWSFEED_HASH_SET_STORAGE_KEY = 'newsfeed.hashes';
 
-export const NEWSFEED_DEFAULT_SERVICE_BASE_URL = 'https://feeds.elastic.co';
-export const NEWSFEED_DEV_SERVICE_BASE_URL = 'https://feeds-staging.elastic.co';
+export const NEWSFEED_DEFAULT_SERVICE_BASE_URL = '';
+export const NEWSFEED_DEV_SERVICE_BASE_URL = '';
 export const NEWSFEED_DEFAULT_SERVICE_PATH = '/kibana/v{VERSION}.json';
diff --git a/src/plugins/newsfeed/kibana.json b/src/plugins/newsfeed/kibana.json
deleted file mode 100644
index b9f37b67f692..000000000000
--- a/src/plugins/newsfeed/kibana.json
+++ /dev/null
@@ -1,6 +0,0 @@
-{
-  "id": "newsfeed",
-  "version": "kibana",
-  "server": true,
-  "ui": true
-}
diff --git a/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/empty_news.test.tsx b/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/empty_news.test.tsx
index 33702df00a58..a7d9b608ab0a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/empty_news.test.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/empty_news.test.tsx
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ import { shallow } from 'enzyme';
 import toJson from 'enzyme-to-json';
 import { NewsEmptyPrompt } from './empty_news';
 
-describe('empty_news', () => {
-  describe('rendering', () => {
+describe.skip('empty_news', () => {
+  describe.skip('rendering', () => {
     it('renders the default Empty News', () => {
       const wrapper = shallow(<NewsEmptyPrompt />);
       expect(toJson(wrapper)).toMatchSnapshot();
diff --git a/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/loading_news.test.tsx b/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/loading_news.test.tsx
index ca449b8ee879..f56037bee76a 100644
--- a/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/loading_news.test.tsx
+++ b/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/components/loading_news.test.tsx
@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ import { shallow } from 'enzyme';
 import toJson from 'enzyme-to-json';
 import { NewsLoadingPrompt } from './loading_news';
 
-describe('news_loading', () => {
-  describe('rendering', () => {
+describe.skip('news_loading', () => {
+  describe.skip('rendering', () => {
     it('renders the default News Loading', () => {
       const wrapper = shallow(<NewsLoadingPrompt />);
       expect(toJson(wrapper)).toMatchSnapshot();
diff --git a/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/lib/api.test.ts b/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/lib/api.test.ts
index 89918acce6c7..8e4298e73dcf 100644
--- a/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/lib/api.test.ts
+++ b/src/plugins/newsfeed/public/lib/api.test.ts
@@ -51,7 +51,7 @@ jest.mock('uuid', () => ({
   v4: () => 'NEW_UUID',
 }));
 
-describe('NewsfeedApiDriver', () => {
+describe.skip('NewsfeedApiDriver', () => {
   const kibanaVersion = '99.999.9-test_version'; // It'll remove the `-test_version` bit
   const userLanguage = 'en';
   const fetchInterval = 2000;
@@ -61,7 +61,7 @@ describe('NewsfeedApiDriver', () => {
     sinon.reset();
   });
 
-  describe('shouldFetch', () => {
+  describe.skip('shouldFetch', () => {
     it('defaults to true', () => {
       const driver = getDriver();
       expect(driver.shouldFetch()).toBe(true);
@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ describe('NewsfeedApiDriver', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe('updateHashes', () => {
+  describe.skip('updateHashes', () => {
     it('returns previous and current storage', () => {
       const driver = getDriver();
       const items: NewsfeedItem[] = [
@@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ describe('NewsfeedApiDriver', () => {
     ).toBe(false);
   });
 
-  describe('modelItems', () => {
+  describe.skip('modelItems', () => {
     it('Models empty set with defaults', () => {
       const driver = getDriver();
       const apiItems: ApiItem[] = [];
@@ -451,7 +451,7 @@ describe('NewsfeedApiDriver', () => {
   });
 });
 
-describe('getApi', () => {
+describe.skip('getApi', () => {
   const mockHttpGet = jest.fn();
   let httpMock = ({
     fetch: mockHttpGet,
@@ -616,7 +616,7 @@ describe('getApi', () => {
     });
   });
 
-  describe('Retry fetching', () => {
+  describe.skip('Retry fetching', () => {
     const successItems: ApiItem[] = [
       {
         title: { en: 'hasNew test' },
diff --git a/test/common/config.js b/test/common/config.js
index 9d6d531ae4b3..353453573929 100644
--- a/test/common/config.js
+++ b/test/common/config.js
@@ -17,7 +17,7 @@
  * under the License.
  */
 
-import path from 'path';
+//import path from 'path';
 import { format as formatUrl } from 'url';
 import { esTestConfig, kbnTestConfig, kibanaServerTestUser } from '@kbn/test';
 import { services } from './services';
@@ -58,9 +58,9 @@ export default function () {
         '--telemetry.optInStatusUrl=https://telemetry-staging.elastic.co/opt_in_status/v2/send',
         `--server.maxPayloadBytes=1679958`,
         // newsfeed mock service
-        `--plugin-path=${path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures', 'plugins', 'newsfeed')}`,
-        `--newsfeed.service.urlRoot=${servers.kibana.protocol}://${servers.kibana.hostname}:${servers.kibana.port}`,
-        `--newsfeed.service.pathTemplate=/api/_newsfeed-FTS-external-service-simulators/kibana/v{VERSION}.json`,
+        // `--plugin-path=${path.join(__dirname, 'fixtures', 'plugins', 'newsfeed')}`,
+        // `--newsfeed.service.urlRoot=${servers.kibana.protocol}://${servers.kibana.hostname}:${servers.kibana.port}`,
+        // `--newsfeed.service.pathTemplate=/api/_newsfeed-FTS-external-service-simulators/kibana/v{VERSION}.json`,
       ],
     },
     services,
diff --git a/test/functional/apps/home/_newsfeed.ts b/test/functional/apps/home/_newsfeed.ts
index 4568ba2b47d8..b5406a127c20 100644
--- a/test/functional/apps/home/_newsfeed.ts
+++ b/test/functional/apps/home/_newsfeed.ts
@@ -25,7 +25,7 @@ export default function ({ getService, getPageObjects }: FtrProviderContext) {
   const deployment = getService('deployment');
   const PageObjects = getPageObjects(['newsfeed']);
 
-  describe('Newsfeed', () => {
+  describe.skip('Newsfeed', () => {
     before(async () => {
       await PageObjects.newsfeed.resetPage();
     });