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Elon Musk’s X Sues Additional Companies Over Alleged Advertising Boycott

 |  February 4, 2025

Musk’s X (formerly Twitter) has amended its lawsuit to accuse a broader group of companies of conspiring to harm the social media platform through a boycott. According to USA Today, the new complaint, filed by Elon Musk’s legal team on Saturday, targets a range of companies that are members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an influential advertising industry group.

The lawsuit, initially filed in 2024, alleges that GARM and its members, including companies like CVS, Mars, Ørsted, and Twitch, unlawfully conspired to withhold billions in advertising revenue from the platform after Musk’s acquisition in 2022. Now, the amended complaint adds additional names to the list, including global brands such as Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell International.

The legal action claims that GARM and its members collectively pressured X to comply with the group’s preferred brand safety standards, leading to a coordinated advertising boycott. This, the lawsuit argues, has had a lasting impact on the platform’s revenue and operations. Musk’s legal team contends that this concerted effort to enforce specific standards among advertisers undermines the competitive dynamics of the market and harms consumers.

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

Further detailing the scope of the alleged conspiracy, the complaint accuses the companies of celebrating when X failed to meet its projected revenue targets, highlighting the ongoing effects of the boycott despite X’s efforts to implement brand safety measures that meet or exceed GARM’s standards.

Nestlé, Abbott Laboratories, Colgate-Palmolive, Lego, Pinterest, Tyson Foods, and Shell International have yet to respond to requests for comment from USA Today regarding the expanded lawsuit.

Musk’s legal team argues that social media platforms should be free to establish their own brand safety standards based on what is most suitable for their users and competitive environment. They assert that forcing platforms to adhere to the collective preferences of powerful advertisers compromises the competitive process and prioritizes the interests of these advertisers over those of consumers.

“This kind of collective action among competitors to set the standards for social media platforms skips over the competitive process,” the complaint states, further accusing the advertisers of using their market power to push their own agenda.

Source: USA Today