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The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) is reportedly shutting down operations of its nonprofit arm, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), after being hit with an antitrust lawsuit from Elon Musk’s social media platform, X.
X, formerly Twitter, filed a lawsuit against the WFA, GARM and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever Tuesday, accusing the defendants of colluding to illegally boycott certain companies and platforms, including X, from advertising.
Elon Musk’s Twitter account is displayed on the screen of an iPhone April 26, 2022, in Paris. Musk changed the platform’s name to X after purchasing it. (Chesnot/Getty Images / Getty Images)
Social media platform Rumble joined X in suing the WFA, which created the GARM consortium to serve member advertisers, claiming the group improperly used brand safety standards to effectively boycott certain platforms.
According to a new report from Business Insider, WFA CEO Stephan Loerke informed members in an email Thursday the group is “discontinuing” activities for GARM. The outlet said Loerke wrote the decision was “not made lightly,” but it explained GARM is a nonprofit with limited resources.
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Still, Loerke said WFA and GARM plan on fighting back against X’s lawsuit in court, and the ad groups are confident the outcome of the case will “demonstrate our full adherence to competition rules in all our activities,” BI reported.
FOX Business has reached out to WFA and GARM for comment on the report.
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X filed the suit after reviewing the House Judiciary Committee’s recent investigation that found evidence “GARM and its members directly organized boycotts and used other indirect tactics to target disfavored platforms, content creators, and news organizations in an effort to demonetize and, in effect, limit certain choices for consumers.”
X CEO Linda Yaccarino said the company determined GARM’s tactics have cost the social media platform billions of dollars.
In response to the House Judiciary Committee reporting that GARM would be discontinuing, Yaccarino wrote on X, “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.”
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GARM claims to be “apolitical” and “voluntary” and says it benefits its members by providing use of “resources and information about best practices to learn where their advertising investments go, and to avoid placement next to illegal or harmful content that could damage their brands’ reputation.”
However, GARM’s critics have a different view of the organization and suggest it has colluded with dozens of major U.S. corporations to push boycotts and suppress speech in a manner that targets conservatives.
Elon Musk’s X has sued the WFA, GARM and some GARM member companies, claiming the defendants organized an advertising boycott against the platform that has cost it billions of dollars. (Emin Sansar/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images / Getty Images)
GARM is alleged to have worked with large companies to implement advertising crackdowns on Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Spotify, political candidates and news outlets, including Fox News, The Daily Wire and Breitbart News.
WFA spokesperson Will Gilroy told Fox News Digital earlier this week the “recent allegations by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee against GARM for anticompetitive behavior are unfounded.”
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“Recent engagement with industry leaders suggests that GARM’s work remains valuable and increasingly relevant as digital media continues to develop,” he said. “As such, GARM will continue to live up to its commitment to help allow its members to drive more responsible marketing practices.”
FOX News’ Andrew Mark Miller and FOX Business’ Eric Revell contributed to this report.
