On Tuesday, Elon Musk announced a lawsuit filed by his X Corp against a little-known advertising consortium dubbed GARM (short for the Global Alliance for Responsible Media). X claimed that GARM had conspired to shut off advertising revenue to its business, thus depriving it of “billions” of dollars. Now, some 48 hours later, it would appear that the besieged ad organization is halting its operations and disbanding.
The New York Times reports that GARM plans to “shut down,” citing an internal email from the non-profit organization that states it doesn’t have the financial resources to continue operations while also fighting X’s litigation effort. Business Insider originally reported on the email, which stated that the organization would be “discontinuing” its activities.
GARM is an initiative established by the World Federation of Advertisers in 2019, following the Christchurch massacre. It has publicly stated that its goal is to address “the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.” Functionally, what this has meant is advising companies on sites that might prove problematic from a brand safety perspective. An investigation by the conservative-led House Judiciary Committee claims that the organization broke anti-trust laws in its efforts to “demonetize disfavored content in the name of brand safety,” and that it has specifically targeted conservative organizations.
Last year, Musk told advertisers who didn’t like him or his website to “go fuck” themselves, stating that he hoped companies that didn’t support his way of doing business wouldn’t advertise on X. Apparently he didn’t really mean it, since his company is now suing some of the advertisers who decided to do that. X’s lawsuit claims that, following Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (which he later renamed X), GARM helped trigger a “massive advertiser boycott” that deprived the company of “billions of dollars in advertising revenue.” The suit says that, internally, “GARM celebrated—and took responsibility for—the massive economic harm imposed on Twitter by the boycott.”
While the organization may be shutting down, GARM and the WEF have denied that they broke antitrust laws. Gizmodo reached out to both organizations for comment but did not hear back by time of publication.
On Thursday, X CEO Linda Yaccarino posted about GARM’s disbandment, saying: “No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized. This is an important acknowledgement and a necessary step in the right direction. I am hopeful that it means ecosystem-wide reform is coming.”
Musk has yet to directly comment on the development. The tech billionaire has made a habit of high-profile litigation in recent years. In addition to X’s legal assault on GARM, Musk and/or X are also currently suing OpenAI, the company he originally helped found, Media Matters, a left-leaning non-profit watchdog, and the Center for Countering Digital Hate, another non-profit. Of course, the complete list of legal entanglements that Musk and his companies are involved in is long.
