Elon Musk's antitrust lawsuit leads to suspension of advertising group's brand safety unit.

• The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) announced on Thursday that it has temporarily halted the activities of its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative.
• In 2019, GARM was established to assist advertisers in preventing their advertisements from appearing alongside content they consider harmful.
• This week, Elon Musk's X filed a federal lawsuit accusing WFA and its member companies of anticompetitive behavior and orchestrating an advertising boycott.

An advertising group has halted the operations of a unit that deals with brand safety just days after Elon Musk's X sued the association for allegedly orchestrating an illegal ad boycott.

The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) announced on Thursday that it would discontinue its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative, which was launched in 2019 to help advertisers steer clear of content they consider harmful.

Business insider first reported that GARM was being shuttered.

Earlier this week, Twitter, previously known as X, filed a federal lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and several member companies, including Unilever, Mars, and CVS Health. The lawsuit claimed that the WFA engaged in anticompetitive behavior and organized an advertising boycott that negatively impacted X's financial well-being.

In the lawsuit filed in the Northern District of Texas, GARM's attorneys countered the allegations made by the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee against X, claiming that the group's activities "provide consumers with choices" and are "legal under the antitrust laws."

The disbanding of GARM was a significant victory for the First Amendment and Chairman Jordan's oversight efforts, according to Russell Dye, a spokesperson for the House Judiciary panel.

After Musk's $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, a number of advertisers paused their campaigns due to an increase in hate speech and problematic content on the platform, as found by civil rights and other groups.

In a public interview last November, Musk advised advertisers to "Go f--- yourself" if they were trying to "blackmail" him by withholding their X ad spending.

At that time, Musk stated that the whole world would be aware of the advertisers' role in the company's demise and that he would meticulously record the details.

X has filed lawsuits against numerous watchdog groups, including Media Matters and CCDH, who released reports detailing the increase of hate speech, homophobic, conspiratorial, and other inflammatory content on the site.

In March, a California judge dismissed X's lawsuit against the CCDH, stating that the case was about punishing the defendants for their speech.

Ruben Schreurs, Ebiquity's chief strategy officer, labeled X's lawsuit against WFA as "weaponized litigation" that "merely serves as a tool to suppress those voices and to hinder the organizations" that are working to make the internet safer, particularly for children.

Conservative platforms and voices are being targeted by GARM members through illegal collusion, according to evidence obtained by the House Committee in March.

Schreurs believes that the lawsuit against the WFA by X is likely to be dismissed. However, he is concerned about the aggressive tactics taken against advertisers and stated that the legal actions are more political in nature than fact-based.

X didn't respond to a request for comment.

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