Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP (Getty Images)
As first reported by Axios, a collective of some 200 newspapers are currently suing Google and Facebook, alleging that the tech giants have unfairly manipulated the advertising market in ways that directly damage their publications.
The suits, which are being handled by a unified front of lawyers and law firms, are being filed on behalf of some 30 different companies. Those companies, in turn, represent about 200 separate newspapers spread out across the country. (Axios recently published a full list of publications that are involved.) The suits were recently consolidated in New York state—a process by which the “pleadings, judgments, and findings” of disparate but similar legal cases can be considered as one.
Using arguments that strongly resemble those made in a separate anti-trust suit filed by the Texas Attorney General last year, the legal volleys essentially accuse Google and Facebook of monopolizing the digital advertising market via illegitimate practices. They further seek to “recover past damages to newspapers,” basically asking for payouts commensurate with the money that’s been sucked out of the industry.
If the newspapers win, they could be entitled to significant remuneration via something called “treble damages”—which pay settlements that are three times the damages that have been proven, Axios reports.
“These companies are more powerful than Standard Oil in its heyday, so no one wants to be the first to take them on,” said Doug Reynolds, managing partner of HD Media, one of the companies suing. In a recent interview with the Wall Street Journal, Reynolds revealed: “We felt the political and legal climate have moved in our favor and are ready to go ahead.”
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Such discontent shouldn’t be too surprising since, as you’re probably aware, newspapers …….
Source: https://gizmodo.com/over-200-newspapers-are-suing-facebook-and-google-for-d-1848172670