The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) said Havas Media Group USA LLC has agreed to a proposed FTC order to resolve what it called "unlawful collusion that led to the demonetization of disfavored political viewpoints."

The resolution follows similar agreements announced in April with Dentsu, Publicis and WPP, as well as a previous consent decree with Omnicom and Interpublic as part of their merger agreement, marking six agency holding companies that have capitulated to the FTC's demands to discontinue "brand safety" standards across the digital ad industry that the commission asserted were politically biased.

The FTC did not disclose details of Havas' settlement agreement, and a Havas spokesperson was unavailable for comment at presstime, but in its April settlement with the other holding companies, the commission noted that Havas had previously agreed to “to explore expanded guidance to foster commonality in categorization of individual pieces of content" in September 2020.

In today's statement, the FTC asserted that Havas' brand safety standards -- along with those of the rest of the "Big 6" agency holding companies -- violated antitrust laws "by insulating the agencies from competition."

Havas is now the final member of the Big 6 subject to an order resolving allegations of unlawful collusion.

If approved by a federal judge, the order prohibits Havas from entering into agreements that would set common brand safety standards or restrict advertising based on biased and politically motivated criteria.