Verizon is buying AOL for $4.4 billion - and that's a bad thing

Robert LeCompte Jul 7, 2025

Feb 6, 2018

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                <h1>Verizon is buying AOL for $4.4 billion - and that's a bad thing</h1>
                <h2><p>Verizon isn't just getting a has-been company long past its dial-up prime. AOL is  amedia comglomerate that owns some hot properties. Think Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget. But the purchase could be bad news for anyone interested in access to unfiltered information. According to Business Insider, news wasn&</p></h2>
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               <p>By <a href="/author/robert-lecompte-crosscut-com/">Robert LeCompte</a></p> 
              <p><time datetime="2025-02-04T05:00:00-08:00">Feb 6, 2018</time></p>
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            <p>Verizon isn't just getting a has-been company long past its dial-up prime. AOL is  amedia comglomerate that owns some hot properties. Think<em> Huffington Post</em>, <em>TechCrunch</em> and <em>Engadget</em>. But the purchase could be bad news for anyone interested in access to unfiltered information. According to <a href="http://www.businessinsider.com/verizon-sugarstring-tech-blog-cole-stryker-net-neutrality-government-surveillance-2015-5?ref=dev.cascadepbs.org">Business Insider</a>, news wasn't so unfiltered during Verizon's last foray into news. In early 2014, Verizon launched a tech blog called SugarString whose reporters were free to write about whatever they wanted — as long as it wasn't about net neutrality, government surveillance and other issues sensitive to Verizon.</p>
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Verizon isn't just getting a has-been company long past its dial-up prime. AOL is amedia comglomerate that owns some hot properties. Think Huffington Post, TechCrunch and Engadget. But the purchase could be bad news for anyone interested in access to unfiltered information. According to Business Insider, news wasn't so unfiltered during Verizon's last foray into news. In early 2014, Verizon launched a tech blog called SugarString whose reporters were free to write about whatever they wanted — as long as it wasn't about net neutrality, government surveillance and other issues sensitive to Verizon.

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By Robert LeCompte

Robert LeCompte is an editorial intern at Crosscut. He studies communications and film at The Evergreen State College where he recently transferred from Maryland. When not working, he can usually be f