By Tyler Durden

Social media platform X has filed a lawsuit against an ‘advertising cartel’ who have colluded to control online speech, as revealed on last month by an interim staff report released by the House Judiciary Committee.

In a Tuesday filing against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and several members – including CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever, X alleges that the group abused its influence over marketers and ad agencies to unfairly discriminate against X, prompting an ad boycott.

“These actions were all against the unilateral self-interest of the advertisers; they made economic sense only in furtherance of a conspiracy performed in the confidence that competing advertisers were doing the same,” reads the complaint.

In an open letter, X CEO Linda Yaccarino alleged that GARM’s “behavior is a stain on a great industry, and cannot be allowed to continue,” adding, “It’s also clear that there are likely others who suffered at the hands of this activity. This case is about more than damages – we have to fix a broken ecosystem that allows this illegal activity to occur.”

A Message to X Users pic.twitter.com/6bZOYPhWVa

— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) August 6, 2024

Shortly after lawsuit was filed, video-sharing platform Rumble joined the lawsuit.

The conspiracy centers around an initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), created by the WFA, that established arbitrary standards for the content on digital platforms where its members may want to advertise. GARM used those one-size-fits-all standards to perpetrate an advertiser boycott against Rumble and other platforms. The suit also notes that GARM has vast reach since it counts the six largest ad agency holding companies among its members, including defendant WPP.

Everyone who has been boycotted should file a lawsuit in every country they’ve been boycotted https://t.co/TG2nE5LZAk

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2024

The House report details a coordinated effort by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative to demonetize and suppress disfavored content across the internet.

GARM members colluded to cut Twitter’s revenue after Elon Musk’s acquisition.

As early as November of 2022, Danish energy company and GARM member Ørsted, contacted GARM to discuss “the Twitter situation” and “a possible boycott.” pic.twitter.com/Ekkv2ULuzz

— House Judiciary GOP