House Judiciary Chairman Jerry Nadler (D-N.Y.) on Wednesday said that the American journalism industry was “gravely threatened” by the growing dominance of Facebook and Google, claiming that the tech giants’ power was presenting a “dangerous situation” for the future of news.
“Reporters have been fired, local newspapers have been shut down and now we hear that Google and Facebook are making money off what news they let the American people see. This is a very dangerous situation,” Nadler said while speaking during a House antitrust subcommittee hearing addressing the size and power of Facebook, Google, Amazon and Apple.
Critics say that the tech giants’ dominance in the digital ad market has helped cause an emerging crisis for local news outlets, as they siphon away a critical revenue source for the industry.