Publishers of 125 newspapers in 11 states, including the publisher of the Brown County Democrat, filed or announced lawsuits against Google and Facebook on April 19, claiming the tech giants have unlawfully monopolized the digital advertising market and engaged in an illegal secretive deal, nicknamed “Jedi Blue,” to thwart competition.
Fourteen complaints were filed or announced by publishers from Texas, Ohio, Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Wisconsin, Mississippi, New Jersey, Indiana, Missouri, Maryland and Delaware.
The claims follow a pioneering January 2021 antitrust suit against Google and Facebook filed by HD Media, a West Virginia-based newspaper company that publishes the Pulitzer Prize-winning Charleston Gazette-Mail and (Huntington) Herald-Dispatch.
Among those filing April 19 was AIM Media, led by CEO Jeremy Halbreich, a veteran newspaper executive who previously served as board chairman and CEO of Sun-Times Media, publisher of the Chicago Sun-Times along with seven other daily newspapers and 40 weekly newspapers in the Chicago region; founder and chairman of American Consolidated Media, publisher of 110 daily and weekly newspapers in 10 states; and ex-president and general manager of the Dallas Morning News.
AIM Media Texas, AIM Media Midwest and AIM Media Indiana are among the plaintiffs in Monday’s filings who collectively publish approximately 50 newspapers in four states.
The Brown County Democrat is owned by AIM Media.
“As found by recent investigations conducted by both federal and state agencies, Google and Facebook have monopolized the digital advertising market and restricted the monetization of local news by local news organizations,” Halbreich said.
“This has had a dramatic impact on the revenues and resources available for local news organizations. These monopolistic practices must come to an end. It is no longer appropriate for these two platforms to profit directly from local news while publishers increasingly struggle.”
In October 2020, the U.S. House Judiciary Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law issued a 470-page report detailing Google’s and Facebook’s conduct in the digital advertising market and the profound effects it has had upon America’s free and diverse press, particularly the newspaper industry. The Federal Trade Commission, the Department of Justice, and numerous state attorneys general also have filed antitrust claims against Google or Facebook or both.
Newspapers have been acutely impacted: Advertising revenue plunged from $49 billion in 2006 to $16.5 billion in 2017, threatening the existence of local news, according to the complaints.
“The freedom of the press is not at stake,” the complaints state, “the press itself is at stake.”
