I just returned from Washington D. C. where I was trying to save journalism.
The United States has lost a third of its local newspapers and local websites over the last 10 years. Another third are predicted to disappear over the next three years.
This is the result of powerful monopolies such as Google and Facebook altering the media landscape.
This summer a federal judge declared Google to be an illegal monopoly. Ninety-eight percent of searches occur on Google. Even Duck Duck Go uses the Google search engine. There is no escape.
Google could take over the world and no one would know it. You would just search Google and type, “Did Google take over the world?” Google would reply, “Of course not. Don’t be silly.”
This is an extremely dangerous situation the U. S. and the world is facing. Never before has the flow of information been so controlled by so few. This is not the time to lose half the journalists in the United States, which is just what has happened over the last 10 years.
John Rockefeller monopolized oil. Carnegie Mellon steel. J. P. Morgan railroads. It was these huge monopolies that led to our nation’s antitrust laws. Decades later, AT&T monopolized phone calls and Microsoft monopolized personal computer operating systems.
In all these situations, our antitrust laws were enforced by the courts, breaking up the monopolies and restoring the competitive free market. Enforcement of antitrust laws is important for our prosperity.
Oil, steel, railroads, phone calls and operating systems are all important. But nothing is as important as information itself. That is why Google’s monopoly on information is so dangerous.
It all started when Congress passed the Communications Act of 1996. The Internet was in its infancy. Congress didn’t think the Internet platforms could survive if they had to face lawsuits. So Congress passed Section 230 of the Communications Act, giving Internet platforms legal immunity. Congress created a monster which is destroying our nation and culture. It’s a classic case of the law of unintended consequences.
No publishing platform in all of history has ever been given legal immunity from libel and slander, common laws that evolved over centuries to protect the public from fake news and misinformation.
Every word in this newspaper and all the content we produce for our website must be true and not libelous. Otherwise, we will be sued. Libel insurance is extremely costly. Hiring professional journalists who understand news reporting and libel laws is even more expensive.
But Google and Facebook don’t have to hire reporters, editors or defend themselves in court, thanks to Section 230. Instead, these platforms just scrape content from legitimate news sources and republish the content as their own. Or they just publish non-professional posts from anybody who has an opinion, much of which is false.
These platforms then use algorithms to determine who sees what and to put customized content on each person’s computer screen to maximize engagement. Not surprisingly, the more false and outlandish the content, the more viral it becomes. The platforms make money this way.
Terrorists have used Facebook groups to plan terrorist attacks which have killed hundreds. The victims sued. Facebook claimed immunity, citing Section 230 and won. Similar suits have followed trying to stop Facebook and Google from promoting teen suicides, child pornography, terrorism, fake news, violence and every other bad thing. But Congress has made the platforms immune.
All you have to do is listen to the Presidential debates to realize how much our culture has been degraded. This is not an accident. It is a direct result of Congressional action that has altered the way information is published in our country.
These misguided laws have now led to the biggest, richest, most powerful monopolies in our country’s history, all at a time when antitrust laws have been pushed aside by the courts. But this is now changing.
Emmerich Newspapers is one of two class representatives in a class action lawsuit against Google for its monopoly. Our class action is in the same court and before the same judge, Amit Mehta, that found Google guilty in the government’s case decided this summer.
Our attorneys, dozens of them, are the best antitrust attorneys in the nation, if not the world. Michael Hausfeld, chairman emeritus of Hausfeld, is personally leading the case. Hausfeld was awarded the lifetime achievement award for his antitrust work by the American Bar Association. Hausfeld was recently awarded nearly a billion in legal fees in a settlement with the Blue Cross-Blue Shield monopolies. The football NIL rules stem from Hausfeld’s work, not to mention dozens of other cases. Over the last 20 years, Hausfeld settled for the most dollars of any antitrust law firm in the country.
Don Barrett’s firm from Lexington, Mississippi, is on our team. Barrett holds the world record for the biggest settlement in history, by far. That was the tobacco settlement that began right here in Mississippi. Barrett has been no one-hit wonder. His firm ranks number five in the nation for the number of antitrust settlements over the last 20 years.
Also on our team is Cuneo, Gilbert & LaDuca, which ranks number four in the nation for antitrust settlements. Rounding out our team is Cooper & Kirk, a small but powerful boutique D.C. firm. Eight of their 21 attorneys have clerked for U. S. Supreme Court justices, one of the highest legal achievements in the nation.
Google is now scraping our websites and then using AI to rewrite our content. If you search “Greenwood Mississippi murders,” Google, using our content, provides an “AI Overview” instead of a link to our website. Yet because of Google’s monopoly, we have no recourse.
Not only does Google steal our expensive content, it has monopolized digital advertising, fueled by its vast spy network. That’s another antitrust lawsuit undergoing trial at this very moment. Google not only steals all our content, they steal our ads. And this is why journalism is dying.
The Journalism Competition and Preservation Act would stop this and force Google and Facebook to pay royalties to news providers for the content they now steal. Mississippi Senator Roger Wicker is a sponsor. It has passed the Senate, but Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, keeps blocking it in the House.
So now we have two fronts in the war — one legislative and one judicial. You should pray for our success. Our Democracy is at stake. Our freedom and our culture are at stake. We must all open our eyes and see.
