Alex Kantrowitz: how big tech firms manipulate U.S. newspaper editorial pages
Alphabet workers news
Back in June, I noted a Washington Post article about the astroturfing practices of Google, Facebook, and Amazon on letter-to-the editor pages. In the July 16 release of the Big Technology newsletter, Buzzfeed tech report Alex Kantrowitz provides more detail on the practice. Some extracts below.
- Bruce
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bigtechnology.substack.com/p/inside-big-techs-years-long-manipulation
Inside Big Tech’s Years-Long Manipulation Of American Op-Ed Pages
Why you should probably read opinion pieces supporting the tech giants with skepticism.
For years, the tech giants and organizations they fund have pushed op-eds from small business owners, think tanks, and academics into US newspapers without disclosing their involvement.
The op-eds, which advance the tech giants’ policy positions, make it seem like they have more public support than they actually do...
“It’s common practice,” one former Google communications professional told Big Technology. “The way democracy is supposed to work is you pay less heed to a corporation. But a local small business that has ten employees? That goes much further.”...
“It was always baffling to me that this was so natural,” the ex-Googler said. “By 2012, I couldn't open an op-ed page without being like — Okay, who's actually behind that?”...
The ex-Googler said they provided substantial guidance on a 2015 Wall Street Journal article headlined “Some Things Should Not Be ‘Forgotten,’” which advocated against the ‘right to be forgotten,’ a policy that allows people to force search engines to remove certain personal links. “It was a successful op-ed,” the ex-Googler said. The Journal article does not mention Google’s involvement. Its author, Jason Wright, declined to comment...
Until lawmakers require disclosure, it will fall on news publishers to press for it themselves...
“News publishers should be disciplined in asking where financial backing, or communications backing came from, and disclosing that,” David Chavern, the head of the News Media Alliance... told Big Technology. “It doesn’t mean you don’t run it. it means you disclose to the public exactly what’s going on.”...