DIGITAL LIFE

Journalism has become addicted to Big Tech, and that's not a good thing...

Large technology companies positioned themselves as allies—sometimes even saviors—of journalism for much of the last decade. Their actions were compelling: they distributed resources through grants, created project incubators, supported fact-checking initiatives, offered training on their tools, permeated newsrooms with a culture of innovation, launched news curation tools, and closed advertising deals directly with media outlets.

From 2013 to 2022, while news organizations faced changes in business models imposed by the internet and competed for people's attention with social media, Big Tech gave them some room to operate and grow. Many successful companies and non-profit organizations were born during this time.

Certainly, money and access to tools were part of the attraction. But, mainly, the game that newsrooms became addicted to was that of distribution.

Media companies began investing heavily in search engine optimization (SEO), rewriting headlines to please social media rewards for absurdity, polluting websites with low-quality banner ads, adopting limiting publishing platforms like Instant Articles and AMP, and fragmenting good content to fit it into recommendation tools like Discover and news feeds. This list could get very long, very quickly, and it has begun to backfire.

News organizations (especially small and medium-sized ones) became so dependent on this dynamic that when platforms began to change their products, many newsrooms began to feel the effects.

Many news organizations that do truly impactful work face the same problems. Some recent examples may make my point clearer.

After a decade of investing in SEO, some news organizations are seeing their traffic from Google (one of the main sources) plummet because of the AI ​​summaries attached to most searches.

Similarly, in July 2025, Meta said it would begin charging per message on its commercial WhatsApp broadcast lists, disrupting distribution flows for many news organizations that relied on this distribution (the messaging app is the standard communication tool in Latin America and many other countries).

Furthermore, when Twitter was sold to Elon Musk and became X, external links were significantly demoted in the feed, considerably affecting news organizations that had invested years building huge follower bases. Just one decision can render significant investments obsolete.

Another path for our journalism...I believe there is a way to reduce this effect that Big Tech has on us, and that involves bringing news organizations closer together in cooperation. During my 2026 John S. Knight Fellowship at Stanford University, I am developing a framework that facilitates commercial and institutional collaboration between news organizations.

This means creating practical foundations for organizations to work with each other, such as legal guidelines, partnership ideas, business cooperation methods, technical alternatives, and even trying to bring independent technology companies into the game.

Collaboration needs to require little effort and be seen as mutually beneficial for the newsrooms involved, avoiding friction with our audiences. It also has to be seen as crucial for survival, helping newsrooms share access to each other's communities and distribution networks – let's leverage each other's expertise and strengthen the ecosystem as a whole.

The Dilemma of Journalism...We are at a critical juncture where technological innovation is crucial for the future of journalism, just as it was for the emergence of the internet. There is a potential risk of over-reliance on Big Tech for immediate financial relief, but this may not be a sustainable long-term solution.

The news industry needs to develop more diversified and resilient revenue models to ensure its survival in the face of ongoing digital disruption. Relying on revenue from technology companies can create a dependency that may compromise the impartiality of news organizations. Changes in algorithms, policies, or market focus of these companies can abruptly impact the revenue sources of news outlets.

There is a risk that licensed content will be used in ways that dilute its quality or context. AI platforms may misinterpret or distort journalistic content, further undermining public trust.

There is a need for a reassessment of the relationship between technology companies and media organizations, with balanced partnerships, greater transparency in funding initiatives, and stronger regulatory frameworks to protect journalistic integrity.

The study shows that the influence of tech giants can be more pronounced in regions where news organizations struggle with limited resources. There is a risk of creating a two-tiered global news ecosystem, where only well-funded organizations can keep up with technological advancements. This disparity could have far-reaching implications for access to information and democratic discourse globally.

The current challenge lies in harnessing the benefits of technological advancements while preserving the essential role of independent journalism in democratic societies. The coming years will be crucial in determining the future of the news industry.

mundophone