Billionaire Elon Musk has vowed to sue the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) over its censorship campaign.
The vow, issued early Thursday morning, came a day after the GOP-led House Judiciary Committee held a hearing establishing how GARM has been targeting dissenting, anti-left-wing voices with censorship.
“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,” Musk tweeted after the hearing. “Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution.”
Look:
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
Attached to the tweet was a video of extremely popular conservative podcaster and radio show host Ben Shapiro testifying about GARM’s censorship efforts against his own company, The Daily Wire.
“GARM purportedly sets ‘brand safety’ standards – objective standards by which advertisers and platforms can supposedly determine just what sort of content ought to be deemed ‘safe’ for advertising,” he testified.
“In reality, GARM acts as a cartel. Its members account for 90 percent of ad spending in the United States–almost $1 trillion. In other words, if you’re not getting ad dollars from GARM members, it’s nearly impossible to run an ad-based business. And if you’re not following their preferred political narratives – the ones Kara Swisher and Dianne Feinstein would follow – you will not be deemed ‘brand safe.'”
Bingo. It’s all about politics to GARM. If you’re a left-winger like Kara Swisher of the New York Times or the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein, then you’re fine. Otherwise, if you’re non-left-wing or, worse, right-wing, you’re in deep trouble.
“Your business will be throttled,” Shapiro explained. “We at The Daily Wire have experienced this first-hand. In 2017 after Feinstein made her threats to bring the weight of government down on social media platforms, Daily Wire YouTube channels saw a one thousand percent increase in content enforcements over a two-year period.”
“Since 2021, after Democrat officials further turned up the heat on social media companies, my Facebook page has seen an over eighty percent drop in impressions,” he added.
Even Joe Rogan, arguably the most popular podcaster in the world, has faced censorship because of GARM.
“At the urging of its members, GARM and its Steer Team threatened Spotify over alleged misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, because Mr. Rogan stated an opinion that young, healthy people need not receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” according to the following House Judiciary Committee report:
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
“GARM even admitted it was acting outside of the scope of its work on brand safety, explaining to one of its members that ‘[b]rand safety is somewhat separate on Spotify versus say Facebook Newsfeed because brands aren’t being slotted into’ the podcast,” the report reads. “In other words, the companies could easily choose whether to advertise on or avoid Mr. Rogan’s podcast and, therefore, GARM had no business interfering in Spotify’s decision.”
“GARM even admitted the antitrust implications of getting caught, when [GARM’s leader and co-founder, Rob Rakowitz] told one GARM member that he ‘can’t publicly advise all clients to do X – that gets us into hot water by way of anticompetitive and collusive behaviors.’ To get around this problem, Mr. Rakowitz offered to ‘help [brands] formulate a [point of view].’ In doing so, even as Mr. Rakowitz mistook his trade association members with ‘clients,’ such a coordinated action implicates antitrust law.”
Nobody to the right of Karl Marx is safe so long as GARM gets its way, ergo why an increasing number of figures, including Shapiro and Musk, are starting to fight back against its encroaching authoritarianism.
The World Federation of Advertisers, whose members include mega corps like Ab InBev, Adidas, BP, CVS, Goldman Sachs, Mastercard, McDonalds, Merck, Nike, P&G, Hershey, Disney, Unilever, and Walmart, among others, have created a monster known as “GARM.” pic.twitter.com/3krtHLme1g
— Michael Knowles (@michaeljknowles) May 8, 2023
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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