Elon Musk wants the X ad boycott leaders to face criminal charges

On Thursday 11 July, billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk pledged to sue those purportedly involved in the advertising boycott of tech giant X.

“Having seen the evidence unearthed today by Congress, X has no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket, Musk said in a post on his declining platform. “Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution.”

What did Ben Shapiro say?

In this post, Musk was responding to footage of Ben Shapiro’s congressional testimony as part of the House Judiciary Committee’s investigation into the purported censorship and boycott of right-wing voices by the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM. )In his testimony, the Daily Wire co-founder claimed that X, along with Google and Meta, was coerced by senator Dianne Feinstein into adopting guidelines from GARM. This so-called coercion, Shapiro claimed, occurred in 2017. 

He then went on to compare GARM to a “cartel,” claiming that member contributions account for 90% of US ad spending.  “If you’re not following their preferred political narratives […] you will not be deemed brand safe,” he said. “Your business will be throttled.”

He then went on to claim that there’s “an informal pressure system created by Democratic legislators, this White House, legacy media, advertisers and pseudo-objective brand safety organizations.” 

“That system,” he added, “guarantees that advertising dollars flow only to left-wing media brands.”

What did GARM say?

In a statement to Ars Technica, GARM said that the organization “has continually demonstrated that it will cooperate with the House Judiciary Committee in good faith.”

“We remain steadfast in the conviction that GARM enhances transparency in previously opaque practices relative to ad placements in digital social media,” GARM said. “GARM creates voluntary industry standards on brand safety and suitability which media sellers and ad tech companies can voluntarily adopt, adapt or reject. This in turn allows advertisers to make choices similar to the way they buy advertising in TV, print or radio. GARM’s work focuses on voluntary monetization standards while establishing voluntary steps to improve transparency on content moderation and platform design.”

The awkward part of all of this is that X only recently rejoined GARM — but based on Elon’s latest tantrum, we don’t see it being part of the organization for much longer.

Image generated by Midjourney.

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