Elon Musk Declares War On GARM Amid X and Rumble Ad Boycott

Tesla CEO Elon Musk and his social media company have filed a lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). This is an antitrust suit accusing the association and some of its members of illegal collusion.

GARM Leads Systematic Illegal Boycott Against Musk’s X

X CEO Linda Yaccarino announced on Tuesday, while she named other GARM members including CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever. In her words, Yaccarino accused them of a “systematic illegal boycott” of the X platform. Furthermore, their actions cost X and its executives billions of dollars in advertising revenue.

We tried being nice for 2 years and got nothing but empty words.

Now, it is war. https://t.co/MEzH0vqz0p

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 6, 2024

This group of advertisers and ad agencies allegedly conspired to prevent ad revenue from reaching certain platforms and content creators. Rights management video platform Rumble, which claimed to have joined X to sue the group, described GARM as a conspiracy. On its X account, it stated that the cartel went all out to perpetrate an advertiser boycott of Rumble and others, adding that it is illegal.

Noteworthy, Elon Musk stated clearly that his social media company has waited for about 2 years, trying to see if the organization will make amends. However, he said they only got empty words in return and this has prompted the company to push for the current lawsuit which the platform filed in a federal court in Texas.

Considering that GARM came into existence to address the “challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising,” the accusations levied against it reflects a significant pivot from its initial goal.

Elon Musk Launches Multiple Lawsuits

This is not the first time X is having to deal with an advertising challenge. Last year, Elon Musk cussed at some entities that tried to blackmail him with advertising. At the time, he also promised to provide details about the companies behind the boycott.

In what seem like the season of lawsuits, Musk renewed a suit against Sam Altman’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) firm OpenAI. Per the claims, the AI giant breached its founding contract and prioritized commercialization.

Amidst these lawsuit, Musk has maintained his support for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. The presidential candidate’s Democrats rival Kamala Harris recently picked Minnesota Governor Tim Walz to run together with her as Vice President.

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