Largest newspaper chain in U.S. sues Google for monopoly on online ads

Gannett Co., the largest U.S. newspaper chain, on Tuesday sued Google, accusing the social media company of violating federal antitrust law by trying to monopolize the market for online advertising.

The publisher of USA Today and more than 200 daily newspapers in a complaint filed in federal court in Manhattan said media are suffering because Google and its parent Alphabet Inc monopolize tools for buying and selling online ads.

Gannett said this forces publishers to sell more ad space to Google at depressed prices, resulting in "dramatically less revenue for publishers and Google's ad-tech rivals, while Google enjoys exorbitant monopoly profits."

Google did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Gannett is seeking unspecified damages.

It filed its lawsuit five months after the U.S. Department of Justice brought a similar lawsuit against Google over the Mountain View, California-based company's advertising technology.

The fight is not only happening in the U.S., either, as the Canadian federal government is soon to pass a law that will force Big Tech companies like Google and Facebook to support a fund that will subsidize legacy media outlets. Known as Bill C-18, the bill has faced fierce opposition on numerous fronts. 

On June 14, the European Union filed its own case, and said Google might have to sell some of its advertising technology.

Google generated $224.5 billion US of advertising revenue in 2022, accounting for nearly 80 per cent of Alphabet's overall revenue, and posted an overall $60 billion US profit.

Advertising allows Google to offer many of its services for free, including email and much of its YouTube video platform.

Google's first-quarter ad revenue was $54.5 billion US, little changed from a year earlier.

Industry in crisis

Like many newspaper publishers, McLean, Virginia-based Gannett has struggled in recent years with falling ad revenue and as more people get their news online.

Gannett said print circulation at its newspapers fell nearly 20 per cent in 2020 and in 2021, and that it has shuttered more than 170 publications since 2019, when it merged with GateHouse Media.

According to the lawsuit, online digital advertising in the United States has grown nearly eightfold since 2009 into a $200 billion business, but newspaper ad revenue has fallen nearly 70 per cent over that time.