The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has announced it is shutting down the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative, which organized advertising blacklists to censor conservatives, in response to an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X/Twitter earlier this week.
Business Insider reports that in an email to members on Thursday, Stephan Loerke, the CEO of the WFA, revealed that the decision to halt GARM’s activities was “not made lightly,” citing the organization’s limited resources as a not-for-profit entity. The move comes just two days after X, formerly known as Twitter, filed an antitrust suit in a Texas court, alleging that GARM’s members illegally colluded to withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue from the social media platform.
The House Judiciary Committee has also been investigating GARM’s impact on the advertising market.
#BREAKING: The “Global Alliance for Responsible Media” is discontinuing.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 8, 2024
Big win for the First Amendment.
Big win for oversight.
Musk’s lawsuit, which also names GARM members Unilever, Mars, CVS, and Ørsted as defendants, has sent shockwaves through the advertising industry. Despite the allegations, Loerke stated that the WFA and GARM intended to contest the claims in court, expressing confidence that the outcome would demonstrate their adherence to competition rules in all their activities.
Breitbart News has previously reported on GARM which has been accused of censoring media outlets based on politics:
A congressional investigation recently uncovered overt political bias in the leadership of GARM, which is being used to control online speech and silence conservatives, the House Judiciary Committee said in a report released last month.
GARM co-founder Rob Rakowitz, for example, once complained in an email about people “advocating for freedom of speech online,” and about “extreme global interpretation of the US Constitution.” Rakowitz has also criticized the U.S. Constitution for being written “by white men exclusively.”
X’s lawsuit alleged that GARM persuaded top brands to refrain from advertising on the platform following Elon Musk’s takeover in 2022. The acquisition saw significant changes, including the firing of numerous sales and safety staff and the reinstatement of previously banned accounts. As a result, Twitter’s advertising revenue experienced a substantial decline, with many large advertisers leaving the platform.
The discontinuation of GARM’s activities has been met with mixed reactions. X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted on the platform, stating, “No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized. This is an important acknowledgement and a necessary step in the right direction. I am hopeful that it means ecosystem-wide reform is coming.” Meanwhile, Russell Dye, a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee, called the development “a big win for the First Amendment and a big win for Chairman Jordan’s oversight work.”
Read more at Business Insider here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
