Times-Journal Inc., the company that publishes the Rome News-Tribune, has filed a lawsuit against Google and Facebook stating that the tech giants have violated federal antitrust and monopoly laws.
Citing a 2020 U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee report concerning competition in digital markets, the lawsuit contends an agreement between the two companies to monopolize the market has had “a profound effect upon our country’s free and diverse press, particularly the newspaper industry.”
“Google monopolizes the market to such extent that it threatens the extinction of local newspapers across the country,” the complaint filed in U.S. District Court stated. “There is no longer a competitive market in which newspapers can fairly compete for online advertising revenue. Google has vertically integrated itself, through hundreds of mergers and acquisitions, to enable dominion over all sellers, buyers, and middlemen in the marketplace.”
Times-Journal Inc. also publishes the Marietta Daily Journal, Calhoun Times and Polk Standard-Journal alongside a group of newspapers primarily located in north Georgia.
The attorney generals in more than 40 states have also filed lawsuits against Google and Facebook, the filing states.
The primary focus of the suit is a deal between the two companies codenamed “Jedi Blue” in which Facebook agreed to not offer advertisers an opportunity to bid for prominent placement on its pages but use a Google ad server. In return, Google agreed to give Facebook preferential treatment.
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