A new report released by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday found that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media ( GARM ) likely broke federal antitrust laws when it used its” tremendous market power” in the advertising industry to foment the demonization of news websites, platforms, and podcasts it deems guilty of wrongthink.
Shortly after Rob Rakowitz co-founded GARM in 2019 with the World Federation of Advertisers, he complained that” ]p ] eople are advocating for freedom of speech online” and using a” ‘ radical interpretation ] ] ‘” of freedom of speech. He called for an “unique collaboration” to” stand out from adult commercial interest” to stop this First Amendment trend and stop it from spreading to other countries.
” For an organization depend on speech and reasoning in marketing, GARM appears to have anti-democratic sights of basic National freedoms,” the statement warns.
GARM claims to” safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online “using a Steer Team of four major advertisers ( Proctor &, Gamble, Mars, Unilever, and Diageo ), the world’s largest media buying agency ( GroupM), and three trade associations.
” GARM even includes the so-called’ Large Six’ as users. In the marketing market, the’ Big Six’ refer to the ‘ biggest ad company holding companies around the world.’ Collectively, these companies hold almost every major marketing company,” the record notes.
Companies like Division are prohibited from conspiring against trading or restriction of trade by Section 1 of the Sherman Act. House Republicans, but, warned the continuing” cooperation “between GARM and the nation’s largest advertisers ultimately results in unfair viewpoint censorship of famous dissidents over their Initial Amendment-protected speech.
At the request of Rakowitz, GARM organized a protest among its members to stop promoters from spending their money that when Elon Musk took over the platform and transformed it into X. Rakowitz denied being a part of the planned battle against Musk’s free speech efforts in a transcript of an interview with Democratic investigators, but documents obtained by the council reveal that he “take credit for Twitter’s decline in revenue.”
Steer Team member Unilever also complained to Rakowitz about” issues” with the platform’s” overtly partisan takes ( e. g., Hunter Biden laptop exposé. ) “
GARM used similar techniques to” The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2022 after Steer Team associate Joe Barone of GroupM decided that Spotify and other streaming services should be concerned about the reported” misconceptions” about Covid-19 photographs that the top blogger touted. The commission made the observation that while GroupM knew there was no company health issue because it did not purchase advertisements on Mr. Rogan’s audio, it also sought to solitude Mr. Rogan’s opinions in anyway by bringing their concerns to GARM.
Coca-Cola even approached GARM about Spotify and Rogan’s display. Rakowitz “remembered that he could not collectively advise every Division part what to do “because it” causes us to become hostile and collusive, so he instead advised each Division part independently, successfully aligning all Http members.”
” Mr. Rakowitz’s energy comes from the users of GARM and their marketing dollars. Because electricity lies with the people, when people connect an opinion to Mr. Rakowitz, he is likely to speak that view on to the platforms. Ultimately, when platforms receive the message from Mr. Rakowitz, the companies have the choice to cede to his demands or risk losing their advertising revenue,” the report notes.
GARM does n’t just use its own influence to persuade businesses to reject its positions. Additionally, the organization encourages businesses to use rankings from government-backed censors like Global Disinformation Index ( GDI) and NewsGuard, which consistently blacklist conservative outlets like The Federalist, to determine who is most affected by their coordinated boycotts.
News outlets like The Daily Wire, Breitbart, and Fox News that” cross the line” by presenting what the committee called “displeased views” were also heavily scrutinized and monitored by Steer Team members like GroupM, who used emails to express their hatred for the publications ‘ conservative roots.
The cherry on top of GARM’s plot was when the group “pushed Facebook to take coordinated action in response to upcoming elections in a manner similar to what the platform did during the COVID-19 pandemic to censor speech.” ” Steer Team member Unilever even pressured Facebook to censor one of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign ads discussing” Sleepy Joe.”
The report notes that “GARM and its members use their power to sway elections by using platforms to publish misinformation.”
Republican investigators found alarming evidence of GARM’s” collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content.”
According to the report, “GARM’s organization and coordination of actions that rob consumers of choices is likely against antitrust laws and poses a threat to fundamental American freedoms.”
The House Judiciary held a hearing the day before to examine” collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” and whether current antitrust law enforcement measures and existing civil and criminal penalties are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.
The Federalist staff writer and host of The Federalist Radio Hour, Jordan Boyd. Her work has also been featured in The Daily Wire, Fox News, and RealClearPolitics. Jordan graduated from Baylor University with a political science major and a journalism minor. Follow her on X @jordanboydtx.
