X and Rumble are suing a group called GARM for billions in damages<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elon Musk has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), alleging that it organized an illegal boycott of X (formerly Twitter). Video hosting platform Rumble has joined the complaint.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The suit, filed in Texas on Tuesday, follows last month\u2019s publication of a report by the US House of Representatives\u2019 Judiciary Committee, which found evidence that GARM conspired to demonetize and otherwise harm \u201cdisfavored platforms.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cWe tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words. Now, it is war,\u201d Musk said<\/a> on X, above a post<\/a> from Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski announcing he would join the case.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis is not a decision we took lightly, but it is a direct consequence of their actions,\u201d X CEO Linda Yaccarino said in an open letter<\/a> to all users, calling the behavior by GARM and others \u201ca stain on a great industry\u201d that \u201ccannot be allowed to continue.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to Yaccarino, X has \u201cmet and surpassed\u201d the requests made by GARM and other advertiser groups to improve controls and increase the effectiveness of their ads, working in good faith to allay their concerns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe 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,\u201d Yaccarino said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The lawsuit names GARM, the World Federation of Advertisers, and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever as the defendants, with a note that the list could be expanded later pending discovery. X is seeking treble the damages as compensation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Last month, the New York Post called<\/a> GARM chief Robert Rakowitz a \u201cfascist creep\u201d and self-styled \u201cmega-censor of everything people can read.\u201d The outlet was censored on multiple platforms in 2020, after publishing an entirely truthful story about Hunter Biden\u2019s laptop that the Democrats denounced as \u201cdisinformation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n According to the House report, GARM is an initiative of the WFA, which represents the world\u2019s biggest ad buyers. Its members control 90% of global marketing spending, to the tune of almost $1 trillion a year. Documents obtained by the lawmakers showed Rakowitz bragging that X was \u201c80% below revenue forecasts\u201d since GARM began targeting it. His defense was that the email was meant as a \u201cself-effacing joke.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Outside observers have pointed out that GARM received money from the US government and may have been part of the notorious \u201ccensorship-industrial complex\u201d exposed<\/a> by the \u2018Twitter Files.\u2019 <\/p>\n\n\n\n USAID \u201cexplicitly said it was reaching out to advertisers, doing \u2018advertiser outreach\u2019 to organize advertiser boycotts to cut financial support to disfavored websites,\u201d noted Mike Benz<\/a>, a former Trump administration official who now runs the Foundation for Freedom Online.<\/p>\n\n\n\n