World Federation of Advertizers (WFA) has announced that it will discontinue its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative, effective immediately. This decision comes in response to an antitrust lawsuit filed 48 hours earlier, by Elon Musk’s X and YouTube alternative Rumble against GARM and several major advertizers, alleging a conspiracy to boycott both platforms and withhold billions of dollars in advertizing revenue.
The lawsuit, filed in Texas federal court, accused GARM members, including Unilever, Mars, CVS, Ørsted, and others, of colluding to withhold advertizing revenue from X after Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022.
In response to the lawsuit, WFA CEO Stephan Loerke informed members that the decision to discontinue GARM was not taken lightly, citing limited resources and the need to prioritize the organization’s core activities. The shutdown temporarily sets back WFA's efforts to censor right-leaning content on the internet, as critics warn that the organization may surreptitiously come up with another rebranded anti-free speech effort.
Musk had encouraged other companies to file similar lawsuits against advertizers who boycott them, suggesting there may also be "RICO" violations. The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) Act, is an American law aimed at combating organized crime.
Following the news of GARM's closure, X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted to 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."
"This is a big win for the First Amendment and a big win for Chairman Jordan's oversight work," said Russell Dye, a spokesperson for the Committee that made the revelations about the targeted boycott of X and other companies by GARM.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski wrote on X: "A court ruled Google is a monopoly. WFA shuts down GARM. And it's only Thursday. #RumbleWinning."
Pavlovski, had in a series of X posts and TV appearance, exposed how the cartel of advertizers boycotted and tried to force Rumble to censor right-leaning content creators on the platform.
He wrote:
"1st drop -- @Diageo_NA is on the GARM Steer Team, leading the cartel to boycott Rumble, X, and others that don’t meet their one-size-fits-all brand safety standards.
"'There is no scenario where we approve a platform that has @scrowder, @RealAlexJones, or the like.' - Diageo.
"Meanwhile I'm willing to bet they advertize on YouTube, Facebook and others (where @scrowder is also available).
"2nd drop -- We pitched @dunkindonuts and @InspireBrands beacause Rumble over indexes with coffee consumption. Their discrimination against "right wing culture" inspired us to build @rumble1775 coffee, a coffee for all cultures (which is doing great btw).
"Both @Diageo_NA and @dunkindonuts want us to drop @scrowder and get away from "right wing culture" in order to get ad dollars from them.
"My response: No, we don't discriminate. All cultures are welcome on Rumble.
"Here are the emails we received from both @InspireBrands / @dunkindonuts and @Diageo_NA
"Inspire Brands / Dunkin Donuts didn’t want to advertize on Rumble because of 'right wing culture,' and Diageo doesn’t want to advertise when creators like Crowder are on Rumble."
X, Rumble Suing GARM For Coordinating Advertiser Boycott Against The Platforms
X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced Tuesday, that the social media company has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the World Federation of Advertizers (WFA), activist organizations that have been accused of pressuring brands against advertising on right-leaning platforms.
The lawsuit filed in Texas federal court, accused GARM members, including Unilever, Mars, CVS, Ørsted, and others, of colluding to withhold advertizing revenue from X after Musk’s acquisition of the platform in 2022. X claimed that GARM’s actions threatened its ability to thrive and put the global online town square at risk.
According to its website, GARM was ostensibly founded by the World Federation of Advertizers in 2019 in a bid to “help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertizing.” The membership also included prominent companies such as Dell, BP, Electronic Arts, IKEA, Microsoft, and Pepsico, among others.
However critics have slammed the organization for coordinating and leading boycott campaigns by brands against conservative news sites and right-leaning content creators on platforms like YouTube, Facebook, X and Rumble.
In a video posted to X, Yaccarino accuses the organizations -- along with GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever -- of what Yaccarino calls a “systematic illegal boycott” of the platform. She cites an explosive July report from the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee titled, “GARM’s (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) Harm.”
According to the House report: Through GARM, large corporations, advertizing agencies, and industry associations participated in boycotts and other coordinated action to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed disfavored by GARM and its members. This collusion can have the effect of eliminating a variety of content and viewpoints available to consumers.
The Judiciary report specifically addresses boycotts of X, The Joe Rogan Experience/Spotify and “Candidates, platforms, and news outlets with opposing political views.”
In particular it addresses organization member concerns over Elon Musk’s acquisition of the platform then known as Twitter. One member, according to the report, suggested that fellow members stop paid advertizements on the service, contributing to a precipitous drop in revenue.
“GARM’s internal documents show that GARM was asked by a member to ‘arrange a meeting and hear more about [GARM’s] perspectives about the Twitter situation and a possible boycott from many companies,” the report’s authors note. GARM also held ‘extensive debriefing and discussion around Elon Musks’ [sic] takeover of Twitter,’ providing ample opportunity for the boycott to be organized.”
X notably re-joined GARM in early July, stating, that “X is committed to the safety of our global town square and proud to be part of the GARM community.”
Yaccarino in Tuesday's statement said of GARM, “illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives cost X billions of dollars.”
“We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words," Musk wrote on X. "Now, it is war.” The social media platform owner had famously slammed advertizers last year, saying “If somebody’s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself...” He also promised at the time to document companies participating in the boycott “in great detail.”
In another X post, Musk says, "I strongly encourage any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertizers to file a lawsuit. There may also be criminal liability via the RICO Act."
Video streaming platform Rumble has joined X, in the lawsuit, writing on X, "GARM was a conspiracy to perpetrate an advertizer boycott of Rumble and others, and that's illegal."
The lawsuit comes as the US governmental crackdown on big tech antitrust made headlines Monday, with a landmark court ruling that Google is maintaining a search monopoly through illegal acts.
Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski wrote Tuesday on X: "Google just found out that they can't rig the search market to exclude their competitors anymore. And soon a cabal of advertizers and agencies will find out that they can't arbitrarily engineer a boycott of Rumble & X. We've joined @X to sue them, and we'll see them in court."
