(DCWatchdog.com) – In a gigantic victory for conservative Americans and X owner Elon Musk, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a significant consortium within the advertising industry, has officially declared its termination on Thursday.
This decision arose amid numerous legal challenges from social media entities, which accused the organization of engaging in censorship directed at conservative groups, according to Business Insider.
The World Federation of Advertisers, which founded GARM, communicated to its staff that the alliance would cease operations, The Daily Caller reports.
This action followed lawsuits lodged by tech companies X and Rumble on Tuesday, which alleged that GARM conspired with advertising agencies to deprive conservative media outlets and other marginalized platforms of monetization opportunities.
In July, the House Judiciary Committee published findings accusing GARM of conspiring against online expression that they considered unsuitable for advertising.
The report charged that GARM and its affiliates actively orchestrated boycotts and employed other subtle strategies to undermine platforms, content creators, and news organizations they did not favor, thereby restricting consumer choices.
GARM’s safety protocols categorize “debated sensitive social” issues and “hate speech” as content unfit for advertising support.
The organization has excluded entities such as The Daily Wire, described by a coalition brand safety officer as part of their “global high risk exclusion list” and associated with “conspiracy theories.”
The coalition’s attempts to suppress conservative and other disfavored content also involved targeting Spotify and The Joe Rogan Experience, the platform’s most popular podcast.
This was due to misinformation allegations after Rogan suggested that young, healthy individuals may not need the COVID-19 vaccine, as outlined in the Judiciary report.
Additionally, the report highlighted a GARM member’s admission of personal disdain for the ideologies of conservative outlets like The Daily Wire and Breitbart News.
Despite struggling to justify an outright block based on these views, the member acknowledged close surveillance of these entities, which quickly led to their crossing of the acceptable line.
The lawsuit filed in Texas by X claimed that GARM’s members had unlawfully conspired to collectively withhold substantial advertising revenues from the platform.
The membership conditions of GARM required adherence to and enforcement of specific brand safety standards, which included denying advertising to platforms that did not conform to these standards, as detailed in the lawsuit.
“We have proven our platform provides advertisers a way to showcase their brands and reach their target audiences safely, efficiently and effectively,” X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in an open letter on the platform.
“The unfortunate reality is that despite all our efforts, hundreds of meetings and research to the contrary, many companies chose to dismiss the facts. To those who broke the law, we say enough is enough,” she concluded.
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