Elon Musk’s social media platform, X, formerly Twitter, has taken legal action against a coalition of advertisers, accusing them of orchestrating a “massive advertiser boycott”.
The lawsuit was filed on Tuesday in a federal court in Texas against what has been coined an “advertising cartel,” which includes the World Federation of Advertisers and major players like Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health.
The crux of the lawsuit centers around what X claims is the advertising group’s brand safety initiative, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).
According to X, GARM coordinated a significant stoppage in advertising shortly after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in late 2022.
Musk didn’t hesitate to comment on the lawsuit, posting on X, “now it is war” after spending two years being nice and “getting nothing but empty words.”
X CEO Linda Yaccarino stated that the lawsuit was partly driven by evidence the U.S. House Judiciary Committee discovered, which she claimed displays “a group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott” against X.
“No small group of people should be able to monopolize what gets monetized,” remarked Yaccarino.
The lawsuit further alleges that GARM took pride in the economic damage inflicted on Twitter due to the boycott, with the suit quoting GARM as boasting that Twitter was “80% below revenue forecasts” within just a few months of the boycott’s onset.
A hearing held by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee last month examined whether current laws are “sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.”
The committee collected information suggesting that GARM and its members specifically went after conservative news outlets and leveraged “misinformation” rules as a ploy to go after platforms with differing ideologies.
Although the lawsuit focuses primarily on the beginning of Musk’s Twitter takeover, tensions between the platform and advertisers have continued.
In November 2023, numerous advertisers began distancing themselves from X over concerns about their ads appearing near posts including hate speech.
In response to the exodus, Musk accused the advertisers of “blackmail” and, using explicit language, essentially told them to leave.
Conservative video-sharing platform Rumble has also filed a lawsuit against GARM, represented by the same lawyers in the same court as X.
Rumble described GARM as an “advertising cartel” in a statement, asserting that in a competitive market, advertising agencies should compete on their ability to place ads according to client preferences and marketing strategies.
Instead, they claim, “GARM uses the market power of its members and their clients to force platforms to submit to GARM’s demands.”
“I strongly encourage any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit,” Musk tweeted on Tuesday, hinting at potential criminal liability through the RICO Act.
The same day that X filed the lawsuit, former President Trump announced on his Truth Social platform that he would be interviewed by Musk next week.
“ON MONDAY NIGHT I’LL BE DOING A MAJOR INTERVIEW WITH ELON MUSK—Details to follow,” Trump posted.
Musk endorsed Trump immediately following the July 13 assassination attempt at his Pennsylvania rally. However, the Tesla CEO did deny initial reports that planned on donating $45 million a month to Trump’s campaign, saying the assertion was “simply not true.”
“I am not donating $45m a month to Trump,” he told conservative content creator Jordan Peterson. “Now what I have done is that I have created a Pac or Super Pac or whatever you want to call it.”
“I am making some donations to America PAC, but at a much lower level and the key values of the Pac are supporting a meritocracy and individual freedom.”
Musk quipped that most, but not all Republicans “are on the side of merit and freedom.”
“The intent is to promote the principles that made America great in the first place,” Musk said about the Pac. “I wouldn’t say that I’m for example MAGA. I think America is great. I’m more M-A-G, make America greater.”
Bravo Elon!
(I hope I can address you that way – as an older … wiser(?) .. well Dr. Philosophy (real thing))
Thank you for getting at those TRUTH BURYING SWINES!
I mean, it’s not just advertising soaps and fast-food. They also advertise WARS and EXCUSES FOR THEM – that’s just what Hitler’s friend Goebbels did, isn’t it? Oh. he was really good at it – BUT THESE FELLAS HAVE LEARNT FROM HIM -A LOT – DIDN’T MISS EVEN ONE LESSON!
So, thank you! Now I know, at last, why we always read the same stuff, and never know what wars are about: This GARM IS JUST LIKE ORWELL’S MINI”TRUTH”!
Well, in Gaza it’s still slightly unsure – just because some read too much into the Bible -but don’t read the small print, like Genesis chapter 34 or the many proud confessions of “no man, woman, child did we let live”.
The history of “God’s People” (really – after all that?) is not better than the 3rd Reich’s.
We cannot give one Nation “PERMANENT ABSOLUTION AND PERMISSION TO DO ANYTHING”!
There has to be an end to “kowtowing” to People who, through their actions, BLASPHEME YAHWE day-in-day-out. Their Arch Ancestor Abraham is the same to the Palestinians! He came in Peace and lived with the people of BethEl. Why was not his example taken – but instead that of Jacob’s sons: “Kill, Kill, Kill!”(Genesis 34)? and repeated WORSE AND PROUDLY(!) after Exodus: “NO MAN, WOMAN, CHILD DID WE LET LIVE!” And 1948?
EVEN AN UNLIMITED ALLOWANCE CAN BE FORFEITED!
AND THIS ONE HAS BEEN!
IF SOMEONE IS UNWILLING TO TALK PEACE – HE MUST BE FORCED! – AND THE LANGUAGE IS EMBARGO!
~ ~ ~ ~ ~
The other problem case is Ukraine. OBAMA SHOULD NEVER HAVE GONE FOR THAT CRUEL ADVENTURE!
He knew what letting the FASCISTS OF YATSENIUK (“Our Yats” said Vicky Nuland) lose with their ONE PEOPLE – ONE LANGUAGE provocation and oppression
– HE KNEW IT AND HE WANTED IT BECAUSE HE WANTED WAR!
BUT THAT MUST BE PUT TO END NOW!
I can only applaud you, Elon and wish you success as ‘POLITICAL SENSE ADVOCATE’:
You had already stepped forward with sensible suggestions for a Ukraine Peace Solution, with obvious knowledge of the reality of Ukraine AS AN ARTIFICIAL MULTINATIONAL STATE – which our press and information channels have staunchly kept hidden!
The truth is that “Ukraine” a a state, was created 1918, after the Brest-Litovsk Truce between Germany and the new Soviet regime, with Germany “donating” the Russian industrial DonBass to the newly created Ukraine, as well as the vast Polish regions of Galicia and Volhynia – which then became targets of GENOCIDE AND HOLOCAUST – not so much by German but by UKRAINIAN SS TROOPS UNDER THE “HERO” BANDERA!
AND YOU PROPOSED
‘THAT ALL REGIONS SHOULD HAVE A VOTE WHERE THEY WANT TO BELONG!’
(based on the Residents’ Lists of pre-Maidan, i.e. 2013! needed due to wartime changes)
THAT WOULD BE EXACTLY TO INTERNATIONAL LAW (and should have been in Yugoslavia, BEFORE the facts had been created and the war destroyed all chance of union)
AS FOR THE LEVANTE: I SUGGEST RETURN TO THE UN MAPS OF 1948 – and 2 STATES!
OR, if Israel and Palestine could agree to be ‘Jordanland’ or the ‘Levante’, A FEDERAL STATE
– BUT WITH EQUAL SEATS FOR EITHER SIDE IN THE UPPER HOUSE OF PARLIAMENT!
This is a Proposition not only Netanyahu would reject – but he (or Israel – if they depose him) could be left without any aid (and AIPAC contributions banned), military and economic – which would have convincing power especially if EU and China joined in (which I am sure they would)
ALL OTHER CONFLICT SOLUTIONS COULD THEN BE PEACEFULLY ACHIEVED!