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Elon Musk’s social media platform X (formerly Twitter) has filed a federal antitrust lawsuit against a global advertising alliance and several major companies, including Mars and CVS Health, accusing them of unlawfully conspiring to boycott the site.
What’s the deal: The lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s social media platform X claims that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and its members—including the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), Mars, CVS Health, Unilever, and Orsted—unlawfully conspired to boycott X, causing a substantial loss in advertising revenue. The suit alleges that these organizations, through GARM’s initiative, withheld billions of dollars in advertising revenue, acting against their own economic interests to harm X. Lawyers for X argue that the coordinated boycott violates US antitrust laws. The company is now seeking an unspecified damages.
What officials from X are saying: In a statement, X CEO Linda Yaccarino said, “The evidence and facts are on our side. They conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future. That puts your global Town Square — the one place that you can express yourself freely and openly — at long-term risk.” Elon Musk also chimed in, saying he “strongly encourage[s] any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit.”
A Message to X Users pic.twitter.com/6bZOYPhWVa
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) August 6, 2024
More info on GARM: The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) is a initiative formed by the World Federation of Advertisers and has ties to the World Economic Forum (WEF). GARM says its mission is to tackle the significant challenge of “illegal or harmful content” circulating on digital platforms and ensure that advertisements are placed responsibly.
Digging Deeper: After Elon Musk acquired the social media platform X in 2022, the company experienced a significant loss of advertising revenue. This decline was largely due to Musk’s rapid and often controversial changes, which caused many brands to become wary of associating their advertisements with the platform.
