The Global Alliance for Responsible Media is ‘discontinuing’ after Elon Musk’s X filed an antitrust lawsuit against it

Elon Musk

The advertising trade group The World Federation of Advertisers told its members on Thursday that it was “discontinuing” activities for its Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative following an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X against the company earlier this week.

Stephan Loerke, the CEO of the WFA, wrote in an email to members, seen by B-17, that the decision was “not made lightly” but that GARM is a not-for-profit organization with limited resources.

Loerke said that the WFA and GARM intended to contest the allegations in X’s suit in court and were confident the outcome of the case would “demonstrate our full adherence to competition rules in all our activities.”

The news came just two days after X filed an antitrust suit in a Texas court, which alleged that GARM’s members illegally colluded to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” from Twitter, now known as X. GARM members Unilever, Mars, CVS, and Ørsted are also named defendants.

Representatives for the WFA and GARM didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment from B-17.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted to X shortly after this article was published: “No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized. This is an important acknowledgement and a necessary step in the right direction. I am hopeful that it means ecosystem-wide reform is coming.”

Founded in 2019, GARM is a US-based initiative that created frameworks to provide common definitions around areas like hate speech, brand safety, and misinformation. Its 100-plus members include major advertisers, agency groups, and ad tech platforms. The uptake of these frameworks was voluntary — they don’t name or rank any specific platforms — and GARM’s role wasn’t to advise marketers on where to spend their budgets.

Twitter’s advertising revenue plummeted after Musk’s takeover, with large advertisers among those who fled the platform after the company changed owners. Musk had fired hordes of sales and safety staff and brought back previously banned accounts to the platform now known as X. The platform’s lawsuit alleged that after Musk acquired Twitter in 2022, GARM persuaded top brands not to advertise on it.

Advertising insiders expressed concerns to B-17 earlier this week that while they thought the claims made in X’s suit were baseless, the action would nonetheless sap GARM of resources that would hinder its work.

GARM has only two full-time members of staff and had already retained counsel to deal with legal requests from the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, Jim Jordan, R-Ohio. The Committee has been investigating whether GARM members illegally colluded to demonetize conservative platforms and voices. That investigation is ongoing.

“This is a big win for the First Amendment and a big win for Chairman Jordan’s oversight work,” said Russell Dye, a spokesperson for the Committee.

Earlier this week, the video site Rumble also filed an antitrust suit against the WFA, and the ad agency holding company WPP and its media arm GroupM, alleging they collectively agreed to restrict advertising on social platforms, including Rumble.

In posts on X, Musk had previously encouraged other companies who had been “systematically boycotted by advertisers” to file their own lawsuits.

“There may also be criminal liability via the RICO Act,” he posted, referring to the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act.

Representatives for X didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.