Elon Musk’s X Corp. has initiated a lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), accusing the industry group of orchestrating an illegal advertising boycott that has cost the social media company billions of dollars. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday in a federal court in Texas, alleges that GARM coordinated the boycott in 2022 under the pretense of concerns about X, formerly known as Twitter, adhering to “brand safety” standards.
According to the lawsuit, GARM’s actions were a guise for an anticompetitive maneuver aimed at undermining X’s market position after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the platform. X’s CEO, Linda Yaccarino, criticized the boycott, stating, “To put it simply, people are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is undermined and some viewpoints are not funded over others as part of an illegal boycott. This behavior is a stain on a great industry and cannot be allowed to continue.”
The boycott was reportedly triggered by concerns over antisemitic content and other problematic posts on X, which led major advertisers like Apple Inc. and Walt Disney Co. to withdraw their ads. Musk has opposed increased government regulation of harmful social media content.
The lawsuit aligns with growing scrutiny from House Republicans and conservative media outlets towards GARM, which includes major advertisers such as Procter & Gamble Co. and Unilever Plc. GOP lawmakers have accused GARM of breaching antitrust laws, with a recent House Judiciary Committee report claiming the group has denied ad revenue to conservative media outlets.
GARM has not yet responded to the lawsuit. In its 2022 report, the group outlined efforts to develop standards and tools to help brands ensure their ads do not appear alongside undesirable content.
X’s complaint argues that GARM’s actions represent a “naked restraint of trade,” claiming that collective efforts by competing advertisers to enforce brand safety standards effectively short-circuit the competitive process and prioritize the interests of a powerful few over consumers.
Elon Musk, a staunch advocate of free speech, has faced several legal challenges related to content moderation on X, though with varied outcomes. Rumble, another video-sharing platform, has announced plans to file a similar lawsuit against GARM and the World Federation of Advertisers in Texas federal court.
The case is filed under X v. World Federation of Advertisers, 7:24-cv-00114, in the US District Court for the Northern District of Texas (Wichita Falls).
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