Advertising Group Suspends Brand Safety Unit Amid Lawsuit from Elon Musk’s X

According to CNBC, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has suspended operations of its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative just days after Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, formerly known as Twitter, filed a federal lawsuit against the organization. The lawsuit alleges that the WFA, along with major member companies including Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health, engaged in anticompetitive practices that amounted to an illegal advertising boycott against X.

GARM, a non-profit initiative launched by the WFA in 2019, was designed to help advertisers prevent their ads from appearing alongside harmful content. However, X’s lawsuit, filed in the Northern District of Texas, accuses the group of going beyond brand safety and actively coordinating a boycott that has hurt X’s financial stability. The lawsuit echoes concerns previously raised by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee, which accused GARM of engaging in activities that “rob consumers of choices” and potentially violate antitrust laws.

Russell Dye, a spokesperson for the House Judiciary Committee, praised the suspension of GARM, calling it “a big win for the First Amendment and a big win for Chairman Jordan’s oversight work.”

Related: Rumble Teams Up with Elon Musk’s X in Antitrust Lawsuit Against Global Ad Group

The legal battle between X and these advertising watchdogs comes on the heels of Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022. Following the acquisition, many advertisers pulled back from the platform, citing concerns from civil rights groups about an uptick in hate speech and other problematic content.

Musk has been outspoken about his disdain for advertisers who paused their campaigns on X, telling them in a public interview last November to “Go f— yourself” if they were trying to “blackmail” him by withholding ad dollars. “The whole world will know that those advertisers killed the company, and we will document it in great detail,” Musk warned at the time.

X has not only targeted the WFA but has also pursued legal action against other watchdog organizations like Media Matters and the Center for Countering Digital Hate (CCDH), which have published reports highlighting a rise in hate speech and inflammatory content on the platform. In a separate legal setback for X, a California judge dismissed a lawsuit against the CCDH in March, ruling that the case was an attempt to punish the organization for its speech.

Source: CNBC