Texas AG Investigates WFA Over Ad 'Boycott'

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Thursday he is investigating whether World Federation of Advertisers and its now-defunct Global Alliance for Responsible Media organized a boycott of social media platforms that violated the ad organization's brand safety standards.

“Although companies are free to choose when and where they want to advertise, a conspiracy among companies along these lines can result in harm to competition and may violate the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 1983,” Paxton's office stated Thursday. That statute prohibits conspiracies “in restraint of trade or commerce.”

A World Federation of Advertisers spokesperson said Thursday that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media was "voluntary and pro-competitive."

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"It provided tools to help advertisers better exercise their freedom to choose where to place their ads in the best interest of their individual brands."

The spokesperson added that the World Federation of Advertisers "will continue to fight these allegations" and is "confident that the U.S. judicial system will find in our favor."

News of Paxton's investigation comes around four months after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee said in a staff report that the Global Alliance for Responsible Media likely violated U.S. antitrust laws by orchestrating an initiative to avoid placing ads in media outlets carrying "disfavored" content.

That report accused the ad group of colluding to cut ad revenue to X (formerly Twitter), which significantly loosened its content moderation standards after its October 2022 acquisition by Elon Musk.

The report also accused the ad organization of attempting to “silence disfavored voices” like podcast host Joe Rogan, and attacking “disfavored” right-wing news sites. 

Soon after the report came out, X Corp. sued the World Federation of Advertisers and Global Alliance for Responsible Media for allegedly triggering a “massive advertiser boycott” that cost the company billions in ad revenue. X is also suing several advertisers, including Amazon's Twitch, food company Mars and healthcare company CVS for allegedly scheming to deprive X of ad revenue.

A spokesperson for the Global Alliance for Responsible Media said in July that the organization "enhances transparency in previously opaque practices relative to ad placements in digital social media,” and “creates voluntary industry standards on brand safety and suitability which media sellers and ad tech companies can voluntarily adopt, adapt or reject.”

Paxton separately launched an investigation of tech companies over content moderation policies that he claimed (without proof) were ideologically based, and of the watchdog Media Matters, which issued a critical report about brand safety on X.

2 comments about "Texas AG Investigates WFA Over Ad 'Boycott'".
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  1. Artie White from Zoom Media Corp, November 22, 2024 at 12:21 p.m.

    Very disingenuous lawsuit by the Texas AG. He knows this will evaporate under scrutiny in the courts because boycotts are *not* illegal. It's clear this suit is designed to punish benevolent trade organizations for (wisely) advising divestment from the X cesspool; the penalty thus delivered in the form of the legal costs needed to defend themselves. Not shocking that Musk & Trump cultists like Paxton would rather waste taxpayer dollars on this nonsense than actually govern. 

  2. Leo Kivijarv from PQ Media, November 22, 2024 at 1:36 p.m.

    Interesting that he used the term "disfavored" content versus that the content was clearly misinformation that couldn't be backed by evidence and facts (e.g., the alternative facts that don't exist).

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