Following the announcement of mass layoffs at HuffPost and BuzzFeed amongst others this week, journalists blamed the Google and Facebook duopoly on digital advertising.

“What is happening to American journalism isn’t a mystery. Google and Facebook are eating this industry alive and taking down American democracy with it,” declared HuffPost senior reporter Zach Carter. “This isn’t happening because of market inefficiencies or consumer preferences or social value. It’s happening because two very large companies have taken the advertising revenue that journalism outlets rely on and replaced it with nothing.”

What is happening to American journalism isn't a mystery. Google and Facebook are eating this industry alive and taking down American democracy with it. — Zach Carter (@zachdcarter) January 24, 2019

This isn't happening because of market inefficiencies or consumer preferences or social value. It's happening because two very large companies have taken the advertising revenue that journalism outlets rely on and replaced it with nothing. https://t.co/bLLd7x3Mi3 — Zach Carter (@zachdcarter) January 24, 2019

“You can have a free press or you can have Facebook. But you can’t have both,” he continued.

You can have a free press or you can have Facebook. But you can't have both. — Zach Carter (@zachdcarter) January 24, 2019

In another post on Twitter, New Yorker writer Jia Tolentino claimed, “These layoffs are fucking nauseating! And they’ll keep happening as long as Google & Facebook suck up 85% of the digital ad market!! It’s SICKENING how these companies rode their bullshit abt community & freedom of information to a duopoly that kills off exactly those things!”

These layoffs are fucking nauseating! And they'll keep happening as long as Google & Facebook suck up 85% of the digital ad market!! It's SICKENING how these companies rode their bullshit abt community & freedom of information to a duopoly that kills off exactly those things! — Jia Tolentino (@jiatolentino) January 25, 2019

The post was retweeted by HuffPost reporter Christoper Mathias.

Patrick Hruby, a sports journalist, added, “it would be awesome if America enforced antitrust laws, or even understood why it has antitrust laws in the first place.”

it would be awesome if America enforced antitrust laws, or even understood why it has antitrust laws in the first place — Patrick Hruby (@patrick_hruby) January 25, 2019

Siddhant Adlakha, a film critic who has written for Polygon, IGN, Observer, Mashable, and Village Voice, also blamed Google and Facebook for mass journalist layoffs.

“A day after the cuts at HuffPost, BuzzFeed News just had its own layoffs including the *entire* national security desk, who have done exemplary reporting for years,” Adlakha posted. “Because of Google and Facebook’s awful ad models, and so many other reasons, digital journalism is in severe danger.”

A day after the cuts at HuffPost, BuzzFeed News just had its own layoffs including the *entire* national security desk, who have done exemplary reporting for years. Because of Google and Facebook's awful ad models, and so many other reasons, digital journalism is in severe danger — Siddhant Adlakha (@SidizenKane) January 25, 2019

Washington Post reporter Paul Farhi and Deadline Hollywood technology editor Dawn Chmielewski also cited Google and Facebook as contributors to the downfall of digital news outlets.

A brutal day for digital news organizations: BuzzFeed, HuffPost, AOL, Yahoo all set layoffs. Gannett cuts Pulitzer winner. My writeup: https://t.co/geVx6c9CUu — Paul Farhi (@farhip) January 24, 2019

About yesterday’s layoffs at Gannett and other media: “Over the past several months digital companies have faced some of the same issues [that print did] as profits have proved elusive in an advertising market dominated by two giants, Google and Facebook”.https://t.co/oFJ6L6YmCW — Eileen Truax (@EileenTruax) January 24, 2019

Google and Facebook's dominance of the ad market taking its inevitable toll on digital media publishers, just as they did with traditional media players: BuzzFeed Plans Layoffs as It Aims to Turn Profit https://t.co/MG7ueXvCRS — Dawn Chmielewski (@DawnC331) January 24, 2019

This week, BuzzFeed reportedly cut 15 percent of its staff, while HuffPost laid off at least 15 employees, including members of its opinion editorial team.