A media coalition is under the spotlight in a new report from the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee for allegedly censoring conservatives and, in the telling of the Republican majority, violating antitrust law.
The report, released Wednesday, zeroes in on the influence of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a “cross-industry initiative established by the World Federation of Advertisers to address the challenge of harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising,” according to GARM. But Republicans on the House Judiciary Committee, led by its chairman, Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), say GARM has sought to starve conservative media outlets of advertising dollars.
“GARM and its members discussed a strategy of blocking certain news outlets like Fox News, the Daily Wire, and Breitbart News,” the committee said in the report, citing an email from an executive affiliated with GARM claiming he “hated their ideology and bulls**t.”
The Washington Examiner reported in August of last year that the social media platform X was relying on GARM to inform what ads run on its site. That was despite the fact that, according to the congressional report, GARM “recommended that its members ‘stop[] all paid advertisement’ on Twitter in response to Mr. Musk’s acquisition of the company.”
Republicans say GARM violated antitrust law by coordinating the censorship of conservatives with various entities.
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“Twenty years ago, the Supreme Court described collusion as ‘the supreme evil of antitrust.’ Today, this description remains true,” the report said. “If collusion among powerful corporations capable of collectively demonetizing, and in effect eliminating, certain views and voices is allowed to continue, the ability of countless American consumers to choose what to read and listen to, or even have their speech or writing reach other Americans, will be destroyed.”
The report notably cites the work of the Global Disinformation Index, a British group that the Washington Examiner revealed through an investigative series worked to blacklist conservative media outlets from advertising dollars and received funding from the government.
In a statement to the Washington Examiner, a GARM spokesperson said it will “continue to fully cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee.” The group called the panel’s allegations related to antitrust “baseless.”
“We remain steadfast in the conviction that GARM enhances transparency in previously opaque practices relative to ad placements in digital social media,” the spokesperson said. “GARM creates voluntary industry standards on brand safety and suitability which media sellers and ad tech companies can voluntarily adopt, adapt or reject. This in turn allows advertisers to make choices similar to the way they buy advertising in TV, print or radio. GARM’s work focuses on voluntary monetization standards while establishing voluntary steps to improve transparency on content moderation and platform design.”
This story has been updated with comment from GARM.
