GARM Project to Shutter After Lawsuits From Musk, Rumble

Take your wins wherever you can get them. And these days, every win counts.

It appears that free speech will live to fight another day. On Thursday, the World Federation of Advertisers announced that it would discontinue its Global Alliance for Responsible Media, or GARM. According to the Post Millennial, the move came in the wake of lawsuits that Rumble and Elon Musk's X filed because of complaints that the Federation had committed antitrust violations by using its monopoly to enact ad boycotts of the platforms.

The House Judiciary celebrated the decision, posting on X:  

#BREAKING: The “Global Alliance for Responsible Media” is discontinuing.

Big win for the First Amendment.

Big win for oversight.

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 8, 2024

Reminders:

1. We sent demand letters to over 40 companies about GARM’s collusive practices.

2. We also produced a major report on GARM’s harm, which can be read here: https://t.co/3TTNysFZkC

3. We also had an incredible hearing with @benshapiro on the subject.

Winning. https://t.co/bSPBx63BMs pic.twitter.com/nknS9DJJ5Q

— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) August 8, 2024

Musk commented, "We tried peace for two years, now it's war." X CEO Linda Yaccarino commented, "I was shocked by the evidence uncovered by the House Judiciary Committee that a group of companies organized a systematic illegal boycott against X. It is just wrong. And that is why we are taking action."  

With the announcement about GARM, she posted:

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

So free speech advocates can breathe a little easier, at least for now. But Rumble CEO Chris Pavlovski seemed to be warning people not to uncork the champagne just yet:

BREAKING: The World Federation of Advertisers is shutting down GARM after Rumble and X filed suit against them.

What are they hiding?

— Chris Pavlovski (@chrispavlovski) August 8, 2024

What indeed? 

Efforts like this rarely go away. Business Insider noted that Stephan Loerke, the CEO of the WFA, said that the association and GARM will contest the allegations in the suit by X and said that the two entities believed that the final outcome would "demonstrate our full adherence to competition rules in all our activities." 

Beyond Loerke's statement, this move has the air of a strategic retreat. After all, GARM was created to police things such as "hate speech" and "disinformation" and to promote "brand safety." And you do not need me to tell you that hate speech, disinformation, and brand safety are all in the eyes of the beholder. That means that the people at the WFA, GARM, and their allies are the ones who set the benchmarks for what is dangerous and what is not. 

It should be laughable, at least in theory, that anyone would be afraid of an idea. However, controlling information is one of the first steps in controlling pretty much everything else. GARM will be back. It may be under a different name or agency, but GARM will be back.