Elon Musk’s antitrust lawsuit forces Ad alliance to halt its activities

The advertising trade group, the World Federation of Advertisers, has halted the activities of its Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative following an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk and GARM against the company.

In an email to members, CEO Stefan Loerke wrote that the decision “was not taken lightly” but that GARM is a nonprofit with limited resources.

The news comes just two days after GARM filed an antitrust lawsuit in a Texas court, alleging that GARM members colluded to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in ad revenue” from Twitter X.

Following Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter in 2022, a number of advertisers have paused their campaigns due to what civil rights and other groups have seen as an increase in hate speech and problematic content on the platform.

At the time, Musk told advertisers during a public interview in November to “go to hell if they’re trying to blackmail you” by temporarily pausing their spending on X ads.