Actions may be ‘inconsistent with U.S. antitrust laws’

Bob Unruh
WND News Center

Advertisers are colluding – in violation of U.S. antitrust laws – to demonetize “disfavored” online content, mostly conservative views, according to charges leveled in a letter from U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee.

He wrote to officials of Diageo, which holds a key position on the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, one branch of the World Federation of Advertisers.

He called for their submission of documentation of what has been going on, and warned them to preserve other documents for further congressional review of their actions.

“Evidence the committee has obtained suggests that GARM members, led by Steer Team members, are colluding to demonetize conservative platforms and voices,” the letter charges. “Further, this coordination does not always revolve around ‘brand safety’ and ‘harmful’ content as GARM publicly claims, but instead the desire to censor conservative and other views that GARM members disfavor.”

“Communications the committee has reviewed directly connects Diageo with these efforts,” the letter explains, “Under the Sherman Act, these types of agreements may be illegal, and they require considering the adequacy of current law. The actions are concerning and warrant oversight because the harm that GARM causes to consumers is severe.”

Specifically, content creators lose revenue as “advertising investment is steered away from content that GARM disfavors,” Jordan wrote.

The documents being sought include communications among WFA, GARM and group members “referring or relating to the categorization, demonetization or elimination of online speech” as well as communications referring to “conservative media outlets, including Fox News, Daily Wire, and Breitbart.”

The Daily Wire, in fact, reported the investigation includes whether “major advertisers” broke the law by coordinating “about which news outlets to blackball.”

Documents already obtained from WFA “show how it implemented a strategy to prevent major advertisers from doing business with disfavored news outlets,” the report said.

The report explained, “The letters went to major corporations on GARM’s ‘steering committee’ — Unilever, Procter & Gamble, GroupM, Diageo, and Mars — saying the documents ‘directly connect’ the companies with such efforts.”

Those documents have not been released to the public.