X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk, is launching an anti-trust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the World Federation of Advertisers.
In a video published to the social media platform Tuesday, CEO Linda Yaccarino revealed the lawsuit, stating that “These organizations targeted our company and you are users, the evidence and facts are on our side. They conspire to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future.”
Yaccarino alleged that GARM, “four of its key members”, and the World Federation of Advertisers “organized a systematic illegal boycott” against the social media platform. “It is just wrong, and that is why we are taking action,” she added.
The decision to launch a lawsuit comes on the heels of a Congressional hearing with conservative media companies — namely The Daily Wire — about the practices of GARM and how it was detrimental to those outlets. The Daily Wire, like Musk’s company, alleged GARM was guilty of colluding with ad buyers to shift dollars away from conservative political content.
In a complaint filed with the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, X argues that GARM enacted the quasi-boycott when Elon Musk purchased the social media platform in 2022.
“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,” the lawsuit says.
Musk commented on the situation with a succinct “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war” statement on the platform.
After the social media platform announced its lawsuit, digital video platform Rumble shared that it would join the Elon Musk-owned company in a lawsuit against the advertising groups.
“The brand safety standards set by advertisers and their ad agencies should succeed or fail in the marketplace on their own merits and not through the coercive exercise of market power,” Rumble’s complaint reads. “All of this illegal conduct is done at the expense of platforms, content creators, and their users, as well as the agencies’ own advertiser clients who pay more for ads as a result of their collusion.”
