Big Tech is woke. Mainstream media is woke. So what does it take to turn them against each other?
One word: Advertising revenue.
Gannett, the largest newspaper publisher in the United States, is suing Google, alleging the tech giant holds a monopoly over the digital ad market.
The publisher of USA Today and more than 200 local publications filed the lawsuit in a New York federal court on Tuesday, and is seeking unspecified damages. Gannett argues in court documents that Google and its parent company, Alphabet, controls how publishers buy and sell ads online.
As an aside, it's kind of incredible that USA Today still, you know, exists. Seems like the only place you still see it is in Best Westerns and Quality Inns. How is it still a functioning newspaper?
Well, apparently they have enough resources to sue what is arguably the most powerful corporation on the entire planet. The lawsuit boldly claims that Google's ad practices result in "dramatically less revenue for publishers and Google's ad-tech rivals, while Google enjoys exorbitant monopoly profits."
Google itself wields a staggering 25% of the digital ad market in the United States. Gannett claims that number rises to a whopping 90% when it comes to ads for publishers.
Google's advertising arm, meanwhile, has vowed to "show the court how our advertising products benefit publishers and help them fund their content online."
