Elon Musk’s X, formerly known as Twitter, has lodged a legal complaint against an association of businesses, accusing it of breaching competitive laws through an advertising boycott. The boycott allegedly cost the social network giant billions. The complaint, lodged on Tuesday in a Texan federal court, alleged that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) orchestrated the 2022 advertiser boycott under the pretence of concern about X’s adherence to certain “brand safety” standards for platform content after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition.
X CEO, Linda Yaccarino took a strong stand on the issue, suggesting that the marketplace of ideas suffers when particular viewpoints are not financially supported while others enjoy unfair advantages because of an unlawful boycott. She expressed disappointment at the behaviour, calling it a blemish on an otherwise thriving industry and called for the practice to stop.
A substantial backlash against unregulated anti-Semitic content and remarks on X provoked leading advertisers, such as Apple and Walt Disney, to retract adverts from the platform. Notably, Elon Musk has expressed objections to governmental endeavours to regulate harmful social media posts.
The lawsuit is brought at a time when US House Republicans and conservative media entities have intensified their investigation of GARM, which boasts over a hundred advertising members, including Proctor & Gamble and Unilever. The group stands accused of violating competition laws by GOP legislators and deprived conservative media platforms of advertising revenue, as mentioned in a July report by the House Judiciary Committee. GARM has yet to comment on these claims.
GARM acknowledged in its 2022 annual report the introduction of shared definitions, metrics and tools to assist brands and their advertisers to prevent their advertisements from appearing alongside objectionable content. Yet X’s lawsuit argues that the group’s actions are a “blatant constraint of trade.”
“Such group actions among advertiser rivals to dictate ‘brand safety’ norms to social media platforms obstructs competition and permits the collective stance of a powerful group of advertisers to overrule consumer interests,” contends X’s lawsuit.
Elon Musk, the world richest man and a self-avowed supporter of freedom of speech on his social media platform, has pursued additional legal actions relating to allegations of lax moderation of harmful posts, albeit with varied success.
Rumble, a platform for sharing videos, has confirmed it will launch a legal action in a federal court in Texas against GARM and the World Federation of Advertisers. This case will bring forward accusations similar to those outlined by X, as reported by Bloomberg.