> How is this news?

It isn't news. It's propaganda. NYTimes and WaPo have been spearheading a political/propaganda campaign against social media ( fb, reddit, youtube, etc ) to reign them in. The last thing the nytimes wants is competition to the propaganda arena.

Traditional media has been trying to get social media to fall in line for nearly a decade. The last election put a sense on urgency in the establishment and the media mouthpieces they control. Also it helps to scapegoat russia, china, etc for how ineffective the media was last election in shaping the narrative.