Facebook, Google Threaten Local News With Extinction, Suit Says

Facebook Inc. and Alphabet Inc.'s Google were hit with a federal antitrust lawsuit in West Virginia claiming they’ve driven local newspapers to the brink of extinction through their scheme to “further their worldwide dominance of the digital advertising market.”

“Facebook decided to dangle the threat of competition in Google’s face and then cut” a “secret agreement” with its “archrival” to rig online keyword auctions, the complaint says. The pact by the two tech “leviathans” allegedly led to “the strangulation of the market, to the detriment of the newspaper industry.”

The suit, alleging a digital advertising “duopoly,” was filed Jan. 29 ...