Elon Musk is taking his grievances with advertisers on the social media site X to court, filing a new federal lawsuit in Texas Tuesday in which he claims a group deliberately plotted to organize a “boycott” from advertising on the social media platform following his 2022 takeover. The influential group, Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), is accused of antitrust violations after conspiring“to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising from Twitter,” Musk alleges, citing the group’s concerns over the drop in safety standards. The group’s aim, it says on its website, is “to help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.” It is run by the World Federation of Advertisers. According to CNN, four of its members—CVS, Unilever, Mars and Danish energy company Ørsted—were also named as defendants in the lawsuit. Musk has struggled to land advertisers on the platform, who are cautious not to appear alongside misinformation, which Musk has sometimes shared himself. In June, 2023, Musk told advertisers to “go f--k yourself.” A year later, he attempted to ease the tension, but it appears the battle is back on. GARM did not respond to a request for comment from CNN. According to Axios, X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote an open letter to advertisers, alleging that GARM’s “behavior is a stain on a great industry, and cannot be allowed to continue.”
