Elon Musk has filed a suit against WFA and GARM at the federal court of the Northern District of Texas. The lawsuit was filed to stop WFA’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM ). Musk filed a federal court suit against GARM and WFA on Tuesday.
His company filed the lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. The lawsuit targets the members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, including Mars, Orsted, and Unilever, as well as its trade group, the World Federation of Advertisers, which is behind GARM.
In an open letter, CEO Linda Yaccarino stated that the lawsuit “was not something we did lightly but was a result of their actions.”
A House Judiciary Committee announcement was made on Thursday, via Twitter/X.
#BREAKING: The “Global Alliance for Responsible Media” is discontinuing.
Big win for the First Amendment.
Big win for oversight.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 8, 2024
Shapiro stated during his testimony that the focus of much of the attention is on two fronts. First, right-leaning websites are censored to prevent their information from being seen by the public. These sites are labeled as “misinformation”, and “disinformation”. They are also labeled “insensitive, irresponsible, and harmful” in the treatment of “debated” social issues.
They also tried to get social media sites like Facebook to remove stories or posts that might disrupt the narrative. The Democrats also threatened to punish social media sites if they didn’t comply.
Learn more about the decision to discontinue this initiative.
In a message sent to WFA members and seen by Business Insider Stephan Loerke stated that the decision was “not made lightly” but that GARM is a non-profit with limited resources.
Loerke said that WFA, GARM, and X will contest in court the allegations in X’s suit. The WFA believes that the result of this case will “show our full compliance with the competition rules across all of our activities.”
This is why Musk sued:
According to X’s suit, GARM allegedly convinced top brands not to advertise on X following Musk’s purchase of Twitter in 2022.
Twitter’s advertising revenue plummeted after Musk took over. Musk’s takeover of Twitter saw large advertisers leave the platform. Musk also fired thousands in safety and sales and reopened accounts that were banned.
Be careful not to get excited. The motive behind “GARM”, which is still very much alive, will never go away. Musk and all of us must remain vigilant and resist attempts to silence speech that contradicts the preferred narrative.
