A new congressional report outlines the way the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) has sought to censor dissenting views.
The WFA, which represents 150 of the world’s top companies, has sought to censor through its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative, according to the New York Post.
As previously reported, GARM has a history of setting so-called “brand safety” measures that are in reality designed to prevent non-left-wing views from flourishing online.
The new report notes that GARM is linked to the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), which the Post describes as “a London-based group that in 2022 unveiled an ad blacklist of 10 news outlets whose opinion sections tilted conservative or libertarian, including The Post, RealClearPolitics, and Reason magazine.”
NEW REPORT: How the World’s Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech
New info reveals that woke advertisers and brands are colluding together to attack people like @elonmusk, @joerogan, political candidates, and news organizations.
Read it here: https://t.co/3TTNysFrv4 pic.twitter.com/mMy5XyoVLg
— House Judiciary GOP (@JudiciaryGOP) July 10, 2024
The blacklist was so out there that even some GARM members complained, with one employee reportedly writing that it was “bewildering” that the group “somehow placed the NY Post as ‘at most risk’ paper in the USA for disinformation.”
Yet despite this criticism, the blacklist was promoted to WFA members as a valid way of determining whether outlets, including the Post, were spreading so-called “misinformation.”
“[W]e do advise that platforms, ad-tech, agencies, use independent fact-checkers to weed out mis-and-disinfo from supply chain and ad buys. GDI is one of many – NewsGuard, IFCN, etc,” Rob Rakowitz, WFA’s Initiative Lead for the GARM program, wrote in an email.
In a separate email, he added that he wanted to “ensure you’re working with an inclusion and exclusion list that is informed by trusted partners such as NewsGuard and GDI – both partners to GARM and many of our members.”
The GDI has reportedly benefitted from a $100k check from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center and a $545,000 check from the National Endowment for Democracy.
Both groups confirmed to the Post that they no longer plan to fund the group knowing what they now know.
GARM was reportedly launched in 2019, just in time for the 2020 presidential election and the infamously censored Hunter Biden laptop story, not to mention the censored “lab leak” COVID-19 theory.
“Internal communications suggest that rather than using an objective rubric to guide decisions, GARM members simply monitored disfavored outlets closely to be able to find justification to demonetize them,” the Post noted.
One GARM member, John Montgomery of the top ad agency GroupM, wrote an email to Rakowitz in October 2021 about Breitbart News, a conservative publisher.
“Before Breitbart crossed the line and started spouting blatant misinformation, we had long discussions about whether we should include them on our exclusion lists,” the email reads.
“As much as we hated their ideology and bulls—, we couldn’t really justify blocking them for misguided opinion. We watched them very carefully and it didn’t take long for them to cross the line,” it continued.
Billionaire Elon Musk, the owner of Twitter/X, eventually became one of WFA’s top targets.
“Documents obtained by the Committee show that GARM told its members to boycott advertising on Twitter after Mr. Musk’s purchase of the platform on October 28, 2022,” the report reads.
A GARM member reportedly recommended that companies “stop all paid advertisement” after Musk bought Twitter and turned it into a free zone.
“Evidence that the WFA took active measures to undermine Musk’s stewardship of Twitter includes emails showing that Danish energy company Ørsted contacted GARM in late 2022 to discuss ‘the Twitter situation and a possible boycott,” the Post noted.
“In an apparent smoking-gun follow-up, an Ørsted employee emailed Rakowitz and other WFA leaders on April 14, 2023, to say that ‘[b]ased on your recommendations, we have stopped all paid advertisement [on Twitter]’ but added that it is ‘an important platform for us to reach our audience, so we would like to consider going back.'”
Musk has for his part vowed to sue GARM:
Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket.
Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution. https://t.co/5W4yf1wxVO
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) July 11, 2024
The world’s top podcaster, Joe Rogan, was also targeted by GARM due to his unorthodox thoughts on the COVID-19 vaccine.
“In late-January 2022, Spotify met with Joe Barone, Managing Partner Brand Safety Americas, of GroupM … to discuss so-called misinformation on Spotify,” the report reads.
“The alleged misinformation offered by Mr. Rogan was twofold. First, on the April 23, 2021, episode … [he] told his guest, comedian Dave Smith, his views about the COVID-19 vaccine: ‘You’re 21 years old and you say to me should I get vaccinated?’ I go, no’….. Second, on December 31, 2021, Mr. Rogan featured Dr. Robert Malone, an early mRNA researcher and COVID-19 vaccine skeptic, on his podcast. While YouTube removed the episode, Spotify refused to take it down,” the report continued.
Writers and editors can be contacted at [email protected] with feedback, tips, or corrections.
V. Saxena is a staff writer with a decade of experience as a professional writer, and a lifetime of experience as an avid news junkie. He holds a degree in computer technology from Purdue University. Saxena also contributes to BizPac Review.
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