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Days after Elon Musk's X/Twitter sued a nonprofit ad group representing a collection of 150 brands and over 60 advertiser associations, the group has announced it's shutting down its digital ad safety campaign.
The campaign, dubbed the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), was set up in 2019 to help brands stop their ads from appearing next to offensive, illegal, or violent content on social media. Advertisers say that if their ad appears next to such content, it poses an immediate brand risk by proximity, regardless of whether the ad is technically unconnected to the content in question. During its five-year run, GARM says it developed "voluntary and pro-competitive tools" to help advertisers avoid such undesired ad placements.
"GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances," the initiative's representatives said in a statement on its website, adding: "GARM, therefore, is making the difficult decision to discontinue its activities."
X CEO Linda Yaccarino applauded the group's shutdown. "No small group should be able to monopolize what gets monetized. This is an important acknowledgment and a necessary step in the right direction. I am hopeful that it means ecosystem-wide reform is coming," Yaccarino wrote in response to a tweet from the House Judiciary GOP account that celebrated GARM's closure as a "big win for the First Amendment."
X's lawsuit names multiple defendants, including GARM's creator, the nonprofit World Federation of Advertisers, and giant US corporations Unilever, Mars, and CVS. The lawsuit argues that "boycotting" X violates the Sherman Antitrust Act. But the lawsuit could also be seen as an attempt to sue advertisers for simply choosing not to do business on X.
Since Musk bought Twitter in 2022 and rebranded it as X, the platform has faced issues keeping high-profile advertisers due to extremist content, misinformation, and weak moderation policies. Last year, companies like Apple, Disney, and IBM paused buying ads on X after a Media Matters investigation found some of their ads next to pro-Nazi posts. The New York Times estimated X's advertiser exodus could cost the company $75 million. Musk threatened to sue Media Matters, claiming its report was a "fraudulent attack on our company." That year, Musk also told advertisers to "Go. Fuck. Yourself."
Now, it looks like he wants them to come back.