X is taking legal action against organizations that advocate for advertising boycotts to stifle free speech on the internet.
X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on Tuesday that the platform plans to sue the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). This decision follows revelations from the House Judiciary hearings that the group had systematically organized boycotts against X. “We tried peace for two years,” X owner Elon Musk stated, “now it’s war.”
“I was shocked by the evidence uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee,” Yaccarino said in a message to X users, “that a group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott against X. It is just wrong. And that is why we are taking action.” She then announced an antitrust lawsuit against GARM, four of its key members, and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
“The evidence and facts are on our side,” she continued, noting that “they conspired to boycott X, which threatens our ability to thrive in the future. That puts your global town square, the one place where you can express yourself freely and openly, at long-term risk. People are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is constricted. No small group of people should be able to monopolize what gets monetized.”
Musk added, “I strongly encourage any company that has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit. There may also be criminal liability via the RICO Act.”
YouTube rival Rumble announced that they would be joining the suit.
“GARM’s internal documents show that GARM was asked by a member to ‘arrange a meeting and hear more about [GARM’s] perspectives about the Twitter situation and a possible boycott from many companies.’ GARM also held ‘extensive debriefing and discussion around Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter,” read the House Judiciary’s report.
“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.
“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 added.
The report showed that “large corporations, advertising agencies, and industry associations participated in boycotts and other coordinated actions to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed disfavored by GARM and its members.”
In an open letter posted on X, company CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote: “To put it simply, people are hurt when the marketplace of ideas is undermined and some viewpoints are not funded over others as part of an illegal boycott.
“This behavior is a stain on a great industry, and cannot be allowed to continue.
“That is why, today, X has filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever. This is not a decision we took lightly, but it is a direct consequence of their actions.
“The illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives cost X billions of dollars.”
In response to being called “a menace to democracy,” Musk replied, “The same legacy media dingbats who lied repeatedly, claiming ‘X/Twitter is dying,’ are now saying it’s the ‘largest & most influential platform.’
“The real crime here is that my sides hurt from laughing at the irony!”