An advertising industry initiative targeted by a lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X Corp. is discontinuing its activities and has removed the member list from its website. The lawsuit, filed on Tuesday, alleges that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), engaged in an illegal boycott against X.
X Corp sued the WFA, claiming that the group participated in a coordinated effort to enforce certain brand safety standards through a group boycott. The GARM member page now returns a 404 error, and an archived version of the page still shows the initiative’s members as of yesterday.
Responses to X’s antitrust lawsuit have been skeptical, with law professors noting the difficulty in proving antitrust violations. However, the cost of litigating the case could still be significant for the defendants, which include major corporations such as CVS and Unilever.
The suspension of GARM was confirmed by Business Insider, which reported that the decision was communicated in an email to members. In the email, WFA CEO Stephan Loerke remarked that the decision wasn’t made lightly but noted GARM’s limited resources as a not-for-profit organization. GARM remains confident in contesting X’s allegations in court.
The WFA was founded in 1953 and is based in Belgium. GARM, established in 2019, has faced criticism, including from the House Judiciary Committee, which issued a report claiming that GARM’s activities likely violate antitrust laws and threaten American freedoms.
On the cessation of GARM’s activities, House Republicans celebrated, with the House Judiciary GOP calling it a “big win for the First Amendment” on X. X CEO Linda Yaccarino also expressed approval, viewing it as an essential step towards ecosystem-wide reform.
Responses to the lawsuit suggest that while X might not gain financially from the case, it has stirred significant controversy in the advertising industry. According to the Check My Ads Institute, the fallout from GARM’s shutdown could cause even more advertisers to leave X. “Everyone can see that advertising on X is a treacherous business relationship,” commented Check My Ads co-founder Claire Atkin.