A West Virginia news editor has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Google and Facebook, which together receive about half of the total digital advertising dollar in the United States and face antitrust charges from federal and state authorities.
The company, HD Media, owns several works in the state, including Herald-Dispatch in Huntington and Charleston Gazette-Mail.
HD Media claims that Google has monopolized the online advertising market so much that it “threatens the disappearance of local newspapers across the country”. The lawsuit also alleges that Google and Facebook conspired to continue their domination through a secret agreement, referring to a lawsuit filed by 10 Republican attorneys general in December.
The company does not specify the impact of its business on Facebook and Google’s behavior beyond saying it has affected its ability to “actually generate money from its content” because Google is able to take an uncompetitive share of the news publisher’s advertising revenue. A company lawyer refused to speak on the case.
It is the first antitrust lawsuit against a technology platform focused on publishing news, said David Chavern, head of the News Media Alliance. He said the group is not involved in the process.
HD Media filed a lawsuit in West Virginia and asked for a jury trial. He also sought unspecified damages and for the court to stop Google and Facebook from the uncompetitive conduct they allege.
The newspaper industry has declined for a long time, with sharp job losses and increasingly thin and even disappearing publications. Online advertising revenue failed to offset losses from print ads.
Federal and state antitrust authorities have sued both Google and Facebook in recent months. The Justice Department claims that Google abuses its dominant position in online search and advertising.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google sent a reporter to a blog post published in mid-January by its director of economic policy, Adam Cohen, who defends the Google business against the antitrust allegations brought by the Texas attorney general in December.