The company claimed that members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media coordinated to dissuade brands from advertising on X.
X filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a coalition of major advertisers, claiming that it had violated antitrust laws by coordinating with brands to dissuade them from spending money on the social media platform.
The suit, filed in federal court in Texas, claims that the coalition, known as GARM, “conspired” with leading brands, including CVS, Unilever, Mars and the Danish energy company Orsted, to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” that were owed to X, then known as Twitter, in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company in 2022.
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With the lawsuit, X effectively declared war on advertisers, which provide the bulk of the social media company’s revenue. Since Mr. Musk acquired the company and promised to usher in a new era of unfettered free speech, many advertisers have limited their spending on X, concerned by reports of rising hate speech and misinformation there. By pursuing legal action against GARM, Mr. Musk continued to break with the leaders of other social media companies, who have forged close relationships with advertisers and been responsive to their concerns about offensive online content.
The fact that this bizarre and insane “lawsuit” is being brought in Texas should be concerning. If he gets a conservative enough judge, neither the law nor the facts will matter at all.
Maybe, but regardless of the outcome of this case, how many advertisers are going to want to advertise on Twitter if they find out he’ll sue them for not advertising on Twitter anymore?
Excellent point. I hope this scares the few remaining advertisers away for good.
Makes me wonder how much farther this shit can go before the legal system fractures when enough people say they don’t give a fuck what any Texas judges have to say and if they have to pull business entirely out of Texas, so be it.
Yeah, but he’s using a coalition of big companies. Their pockets are probably just as deep as his if not more.