WASHINGTON, D.C. – The House Judiciary Committee has released an interim staff report titled "GARM's Harm: How the World's Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech." This report outlines how large corporations, advertising agencies, and industry associations through the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative have engaged in boycotts and coordinated actions to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed unfavorable by GARM and its members.
While GARM asserts that it does not influence content moderation policies or the rules governing online content, the Committee’s investigation indicates that GARM’s efforts are directed at removing and defunding specific content and voices.
The report highlights several instances of this conduct:
- GARM directed its members to boycott Twitter following Elon Musk's acquisition of the company. Although Rob Rakowitz, the leader of GARM, denied such actions during his transcribed interview before the Committee, a GARM member documented discussions about the boycott, noting that advertisements were pulled from Twitter based on GARM's recommendations.
- GroupM, a member of GARM's Steer Team, attempted to pressure Spotify into censoring Joe Rogan due to his views on the COVID-19 vaccine. GroupM questioned Spotify's reconciliation of being a GARM member with its stance against misinformation and threatened to halt advertising across Spotify if action was not taken against Joe Rogan.
- Unilever, another member of GARM's Steer Team, sought to flag a Trump campaign ad as misinformation with the intent of having it removed from Facebook. However, Facebook maintains a policy against fact-checking political candidates to ensure transparency. The founder of GARM criticized this policy as "honestly reprehensible."
Documents obtained by the Committee reveal an anti-conservative bias within GARM's board of directors. Discussions among employees from GroupM about conservative media outlets such as The Daily Wire, Fox News, and Breitbart included expressions of ideological disdain and considerations for placing these outlets on exclusion lists.
The findings regarding WFA and GARM’s conduct in demonetizing disfavored content are concerning. The Committee will continue its investigation into these practices to inform potential legislative reforms.
Read the full interim staff report here. Read the report's appendix here.
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