Credit: Sunguk Kim via Unsplash
Elon Musk’s X, formerly Twitter, and the advertising world’s big end of town have settled their differences.
The world’s richest man had launched an antitrust lawsuit at GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).
Advertisers, over concerns for brand safety, withdrew from Twitter, now X, when Musk took the social media platform private in 2022 and said he would champion free speech by easing content restrictions.
X said the “illegal behaviour” cost X billions of dollars.
The US House of Representatives Judiciary Committee found evidence that GARM and its members directly “organised boycotts and used other indirect tactics to target disfavoured platforms, content creators, and news organisations in an effort to demonetise and, in effect, limit certain choices for consumers”.
However, the advertisers and X today issued a statement saying the WFA and X are putting the litigation involving GARM behind them.
“This resets the relationship between the two organisations,” the statement said.
“WFA reiterates its commitment to freedom of speech, a principle first included in WFA’s founding constitution back in 1953, and a principle it shares with X.
“On August 9, 2024, WFA discontinued GARM. WFA will not form or restart GARM or a similar initiative.
“WFA and X are fully aligned in the view that brands, platforms, and consumers will all benefit from brand-safety innovation.”
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