X Sues GARM Over Alleged Advertiser Boycott

Elon Musk’s X Corp. has initiated a lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), asserting that the organization orchestrated a substantial advertiser boycott, resulting in billions of dollars in lost revenue for the company.

Filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, the lawsuit accuses GARM, along with the World Federation of Advertisers, Ørsted, Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health, of engaging in antitrust violations by collectively withdrawing ad revenues from X Corp. This move follows a report by the House Judiciary Committee implicating GARM in actions to demonetize specific platforms, including Twitter, now rebranded as X.

Key allegations and consequences highlighted in the lawsuit include:

• Significant Allegations: X Corp. filed a lawsuit against GARM, accusing it of orchestrating an advertiser boycott resulting in billions of dollars in lost ad revenue.
• Law & Location: The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas.
• Key Defendants: Besides GARM, defendants include the World Federation of Advertisers, Ørsted, Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health, accused of violating antitrust laws.
• Impact Timeline: The alleged boycott occurred between November and December 2022, involving at least 18 advertisers ceasing ad purchases on Twitter.
• Continued Issues: Despite claims of improved brand safety practices, X reports continuous revenue losses, with critics attributing these to ongoing problematic content.
• Related Legal Actions: A separate antitrust lawsuit was filed by Rumble against GARM and others for using coordinated boycotts to enforce advertiser-friendly policies.

solli’s Final Thoughts

X Corp.’s confrontation with GARM, and others, underscores enduring tensions between the organization & advertisers. The broader impact of this lawsuit may reshape advertising norms, and certainly the relationship between X and potential industry bodies.

Some questions that will become clearer in time:

• How will this legal battle influence future advertiser-platform relationships, particularly with X?
• How will the outcome of this case influence the roles of industry bodies?, like GARM?