The Justice Department argues that newspapers and social media platforms deprioritizing misinformation may violate US antitrust law if they exclude competitors. In a legal filing regarding Children's Health Defense v. Washington Post, the DOJ emphasizes the importance of 'viewpoint competition' under the Sherman Act, which includes competition in information quality. Children's Health Defense is suing major news outlets for collusion in the Trusted News Initiative aimed at managing disinformation, claiming significant revenue losses due to restrictions imposed by platforms.
Newspapers and social media platforms that agree to deprioritize misinformation could be violating US antitrust law if they exclude rivals or lead to anticompetitive effects, the Justice Department says.
The Sherman Act protects all forms of competition, including competition in information quality.
The issue was a collaboration between news outlets and tech platforms called the Trusted News Initiative (TNI), which works to flag 'high risk disinformation'.
Children's Health Defense filed suit in 2023 against The Washington Post, BBC, Associated Press, and Reuters, alleging they lost millions of dollars in revenue.
Collection
[
|
...
]