On Tuesday, Elon Musk announced that his X Corps had filed a lawsuit against a little-known advertising alliance called GARM, short for Global Alliance for Responsible Media. X claims GARM conspired to cut off advertising revenue from its business, depriving it of “billions” of dollars in revenue. Now, some 48 hours later, the beleaguered advertising organization appears to be ceasing operations and disbanding.
The New York Times reported that GARM planned to “shut down,” citing an internal email from the nonprofit that said it did not have sufficient financial resources to continue operating while dealing with X’s lawsuit. The email, originally reported by Business Insider, said the group would “cease” its activities.
GARM is an initiative launched by the World Federation of Advertisers in 2019 in the wake of the Christchurch massacre. It has stated publicly that its goal is to address “the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization through advertising.” Functionally, this means advising companies on websites that may be problematic from a brand safety perspective. An investigation by the conservative-led House Judiciary Committee claimed the group violated antitrust laws by “demonetizing unpopular content in the name of brand safety” and specifically targeted conservative groups.
Last year, Musk told advertisers who didn’t like him or his site to “fuck off” and said he hoped companies that didn’t support the way he did business wouldn’t advertise on X. a little. X’s lawsuit alleges that GARM helped trigger a “massive advertiser boycott” after Musk acquired Twitter (which he later renamed X), resulting in the company being deprived of “billions of dollars in advertising revenue.” Internally, the lawsuit states, “GARM celebrates and accepts responsibility for the substantial financial harm the boycott has caused to Twitter.”
While the organization may be shut down, GARM and WEF deny they violated antitrust laws. Gizmodo reached out to both organizations for comment.
Linda Yaccarino, CEO of One step. I hope this means an overhaul of the entire ecosystem is coming.
Musk has not commented directly on the matter. The tech billionaire has made a habit of high-profile lawsuits in recent years. In addition to X’s legal attack on GARM, Musk and/or Hate). Of course, the full list of legal disputes that Musk and his company have been embroiled in is long.
