A story in the New York Times reported yesterday that the Federal Trade Commission has proposed a ban on boycotting ad platforms because of their political content as a condition to approving Omnicom’s acquisition of Interpublic.  

The Times reported that the agreement (not yet finalized) would be part of a consent decree that the FTC has proposed to the holding companies in ongoing negotiations related to the commission’s antitrust investigation of the proposed transaction. 

The companies announced the deal in December 2024, and in March the FTC made a somewhat unusual second request for information from the firms related to its probe. The companies have said the merger is still on track for completion in the second half of 2025. 

“The restrictions being discussed by the Federal Trade Commission as part of its merger review are part of an effort by the Trump administration to use federal agencies to root out what it considers political bias in corporate America against conservative voices and causes,” the Times wrote. 

Last month, per the Times story, the commission opened a separate probe—involving watchdog group Media Matters and others—looking into whether some advertisers and watchdog groups colluded to withhold ad dollars from platforms with conservative views.  

The Times report also noted that Congressman Jim Jordan, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said he was opening a probe looking at Omnicom’s involvement in the WFA-backed Global Alliance For Responsible Media, which shut down last year after it was sued by X owner Elon Musk for allegedly conspiring to withhold ads from the social platform.  

IPG Mediabrands hasa long history of taking a stand to fight misinformation content, including being the first holding company to crate "inclusion" lists for permissible news programming content. The current administration has targeted an array of inclusion policies as discriminatory.