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Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez Warns Loss Of Journalists Will Send Democracy Crumbling

The congresswoman called the industry's biggest threats "tech monopolies & concentration of ownership."

Social media queen Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) used her Twitter platform to defend journalists amid a series of sweeping layoffs across the media industry.

In a Saturday tweet, the freshman congresswoman cautioned that “the biggest threats to journalism right now are tech monopolies & concentration of ownership,” advocating for “high-quality journalism.”

Without a diversity of news outlets, she warned, “our democracy will continue to crumble.”

The tweet comes in the wake of recent cutbacks at HuffPost, Yahoo, AOL, BuzzFeed and a handful of Gannett-owned newspapers ― all told, some 1,000 workers lost their jobs.

Facebook and Google have been widely blamed for monopolizing online advertising, which critics have pointed to as a major handicap to digital news organizations trying to turn a profit to stay afloat.

In a follow-up tweet, Ocasio-Cortez doubled down on her defense of journalists, arguing the profession “will only die if we choose not to fight for it ― and if journalism dies, our democracy will, too.”

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This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.