Here's some really great news from the House Judiciary GOP and The Daily Wire. GARM — the Global Alliance for Responsible Media — which tried to scare away advertisers from social media platforms like X and Rumble, is disbanding.
#BREAKING: The “Global Alliance for Responsible Media” is discontinuing.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 8, 2024
Big win for the First Amendment.
Big win for oversight.
No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized. This is an important acknowledgement and a necessary step in the right direction. I am hopeful that it means ecosystem-wide reform is coming. https://t.co/BlHqHqZEyp
— Linda Yaccarino (@lindayaX) August 8, 2024
Late last year, Elon Musk had some words for corporations that were buckling under pressure from groups like GARM:
.@elonmusk to corporations pulling ads from X:
— Greg Price (@greg_price11) November 29, 2023
"Don't advertise. If someone is going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money, go fuck yourself. Go fuck yourself. Is that clear? I hope it is." pic.twitter.com/GuhIHWjei9
GARM has disbanded after coming under fire in July's congressional hearing with @benshapiro and a lawsuit from @elonmusk's X. pic.twitter.com/CORg5kaWJm
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) August 8, 2024
K.O. GARM:
— Luke Rosiak (@lukerosiak) August 8, 2024
Leftist censorship cartel disbands after lawsuits by @elonmusk and Rumble and @benshapiro congressional testimony.
Ironically this is its website right now: https://t.co/b3DzVYhDeY pic.twitter.com/sLaiPjtiEn
The Daily Wire's Luke Rosiak writes:
The World Federation of Advertisers has disbanded a group that worked to ensure companies only advertise with “responsible” media outlets, hours after it was sued by X and Rumble.
WFA chief executive Stephan Loerke wrote to members on Thursday that the “discontinuing” of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative was “not made lightly,” Business Insider reported.
His letter added that he believes GARM will prevail against the lawsuits.
The shuttering comes weeks after Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro testified to Congress about evidence that GARM targeted conservative news outlets. GARM counted almost all advertising companies as members, and used that membership as leverage to bully tech platforms into censoring more content.
To qualify for membership, advertising firms had to pledge not to place advertisements alongside “harmful” content like “misinformation.”
Remember when Elon Musk sued Media Matters for gaming the system to show companies like Apple and IBM that their ads were popping up next to pro-Nazi content on X?
Here's Ben Shapiro's testimony before Congress:
Watch @benshapiro's opening statement in the House Judiciary Committee: pic.twitter.com/S0i47n7Vvl
— Daily Wire (@realDailyWire) July 10, 2024
So long, GARM. Get in the dustbin with the Disinformation Governance Board. But are they really going away?
They will rebrand as something else like the Department of Misinformation did.
— Van Luken (@luken_van) August 8, 2024
Be watchful - these rodents will pop up somewhere else with a new name.
— FugitiveMama (@fugitivemama) August 8, 2024
How many times do they do this?
— floridanow1 (@floridanow1) August 8, 2024
They break up and re-assemble as another company.
They would never go away this easy....no way.
That’s great
— digitalphotobuzz (@digitalphotobuz) August 8, 2024
Let’s keep the pressure up and make sure they don’t just change their name and try to hide out somewhere else
Great news but is it just a tactical retreat?
— Citizen Caller (@CitizenCallerUS) August 8, 2024
I hope you guys are aware that no one is folding that easily unless they have a follow-up plan.
— Seb Kowalke (@SebKowalke) August 8, 2024
They will pop up under a different name, but with the same censorious goals.
We'll take it as a win. At least GARM was exposed for what it was and knew when it had been found out.
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