Local West Virginia Newspaper Files Lawsuit Against Big Tech

Local West Virginia newspaper company, The Charleston Gazette-Mail, filed a lawsuit against Big Tech giants Facebook and Google for monopolizing digital media and manipulating the digital advertising market. Doug Reynolds, owner of the Pulitzer-Prize winning paper, said tech companies have been conspiring to dominate the digital media space for some time now.

“[T]he newspaper industry over the last 10 years has been making this … transfer to digital media, and what we found is, as we’ve gone into this world, that Google and Facebook make the rules of the game, they control the whole environment. They compete against us for advertising dollars,” Reynolds told ‘America’s Newsroom.’

He went on to say that local journalism needs a different way to survive and emphasized that over 200 newspaper companies have closed nationwide. He said there needs to be a way for journalists to work in an open and even playing field while still finding ways to be profitable in the “digital sphere.” He said their newspaper empowers citizens to make positive impacts in their community. “We believe it’s something that needs to continue,” Reynolds explained.

Big Tech companies have acquired a number of advertising businesses and searches, but also the advertising associated with those searches. This has been driving the price of digital ads lower than ever, making it practically worthless.

A former deputy publisher at the Los Angeles Times said a full-page weekday ad in the paper that cost $50,000 had given way to Google ads on its site that brought in less than $20 to reach the same number of readers, explaining how Facebook and Google have been sucking up revenue that publishers of content should be receiving.

Paul Farrell, the lawyer who represents the paper, said Google has been leveraging control of two entirely different businesses so they can monopolize ad revenues and squeeze out anyone else in the process.

“They have completely monetized and commercialized their search engine, and what they’ve also done is create an advertising marketplace in which they represent and profit from the buyers and the sellers, while also owning the exchange. Google is the broker for the buyer and gets a commission. Google is the broker for the seller and gets a commission. Google owns, operates, and sets the rules for the ad exchange. And they are also in the market themselves,” Farrell explained.

Google and Facebook have been working together through an agreement that Google has code-named “Jedi Blue.” It provides Facebook special considerations so that they won’t have to set up a competing ad network. Google and Facebook have not denied any wrongdoing.

It becomes fairly obvious and dangerous when we see the Democrats working with the most powerful multi-national corporations to control the flow of all information and force the same scripted narratives on everyone while pushing local journalists out of the way. You can take one look at CNN, MSNBC, and other liberal outlets and see the exact same words being parroted across all news reports.

That’s the last you’ll hear from the Charleston-Gazette before their website, Twitter, Facebook, and all social media accounts are shut off. That’s how the Dems play.