The real crime is that there is an assumption of companies with their own self-interests at the forefront are somehow benevolent arbiters of information on the Internet. This shows more the naive crassness of the media.
Nailed it. Exactly on what timeline do these people think these megacorp clickfarms were constitutionally/divinely designated as arbiters of truth? They have always been run by trash-purveying ad companies and have always been corrosive [1].
It's companies fighting other companies for the mindshare of the public and profits. Your modern day "journalist" has no convictions anymore, they weave whatever tale their editors want to tell, whether it's true or not. This is our dire future, and I don't see a way out of it.
