X files antitrust lawsuit against advertisers for “illegal boycott”

Elon Musk’s X has filed an antitrust lawsuit against a large group of industry advertisers, including its own advertisers, accusing them of deliberately boycotting X.

Announcing the lawsuit on his X account, Musk wrote: “We tried peace for two years, now it’s war.”

What is the lawsuit about?

The lawsuit was filed in a Texas federal court accusing the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) of conspiring against X and convincing brands to limit or completely remove their ads from XThat’s why the company has been struggling with ad revenue since Musk took over in 2022.

CEO Lina Yaccarino wrote in a post on X that the situation has reached a point where if it is not fixed, The future of X may become uncertain.

The World Federation of Advertisers declined to comment on the matter.

Why are brands boycotting X?

Apart from Elon Musk’s accusations, there may be a few other reasons why brands and companies are boycotting X.

First, when Musk took over the company, content moderation on the platform took a serious turn for the worse. Disinformation and hate speech were frequently observed and some were even promoted by Elon Musk himself.

Many brands do not want their ads to appear next to this type of content, which I think is absolutely right.

Another reason may be Elon Musk’s behavior. Reports suggest he doesn’t handle conflicts with advertisers very well. When they started leaving the platform, he told some of them to “go f**k themselves.”

About GARM

GARM is a “cross-industry initiative” run by the World Federation of Advertisers. The group’s goal is to prevent brands from accidentally displaying ads that contain harmful or illegal content.

It’s worth noting that this isn’t the first time someone has raised questions about how GARM operates. Despite its influence, the group came under scrutiny in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives last month, where a report by the Judiciary Committee accused it of deliberately boycotting conservative news outlets.

The report found that GARM may violate antitrust laws and could be considered to “demonetize certain viewpoints in order to limit consumer choice.”

Summary

To sum up, on the one hand, it seems that Elon Musk has a good chance of winning the case, but on the other hand, GARM’s website states that it does not interfere with the brand’s decision on whether to invest in a given platform.

If the group’s role is truly advisory, and brands are boycotting X on their own, i.e. without any malicious influence, there’s nothing Elon Musk or X can do about it. Stay tuned to see how this plays out.