A West Virginia news outlet has filed an antitrust suit against Google and Facebook, which collectively receive about half of all digital advertising dollars in the US and are facing antitrust charges from federal and state authorities.
The company, HD Media, owns several newspapers in the state, including the Herald-Dispatch in Huntington and the Charleston Gazette-Mail.
HD Media claims that Google has monopolized the online advertising market to the point that “it threatens the extinction of local newspapers across the country.” The lawsuit also alleges that Google and Facebook conspired to bolster their dominance with a secret agreement, citing a lawsuit filed by 10 Republican Attorneys General in December.
The company does not specify the impact on its business of Facebook and Google’s behavior, other than that it has impaired its ability to “effectively monetize its content” because Google is able to provide a non-competitive portion of the ad revenue from the news publisher. A company attorney declined to speak officially.
It is the first antitrust lawsuit against a technology platform focused on publishing news, said David Chavern, head of the News Media Alliance news trading group. He said the group was not involved in the suit.
HD Media filed a complaint in federal court in West Virginia, seeking a jury trial. It asked for unspecified damages and that the court would stop Google and Facebook from the uncompetitive behavior it claims.
The newspaper industry has long been on the decline, with significant job cuts and publications thinning and even disappearing. Online advertising revenue failed to make up for the losses in print advertising.
Federal and state antitrust authorities have sued both Google and Facebook in recent months. The Justice Department alleges that Google is abusing its dominance in online search and advertising.
Facebook did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Google referred a reporter to a blog post published in mid-January by the director of economic policy, Adam Cohen, who defends Google’s activities against antitrust charges filed by the Texas Attorney General in December.