Quote:The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) likely violated federal antitrust laws when it used its “tremendous market power” in the advertising world to encourage the demonization of news websites, platforms, and podcasts it deems guilty of wrongthink, a new report published by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday found.

Shortly after Rob Rakowitz co-founded GARM in 2019 with the World Federation of Advertisers, he complained that “[p]eople are advocating for freedom of speech online” and using a “‘radical interpretation[]’” of freedom of speech.” To curb this First Amendment phenomenon and prevent it from going global, he called for an “uncommon collaboration” to “rise above individual commercial interest.”

“For an organization reliant on speech and persuasion in advertising, GARM appears to have anti-democratic views of fundamental American freedoms,” the report warns.

GARM claims to “safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online” using a Steer Team of four major advertisers (Proctor & Gamble, Mars, Unilever, and Diageo), the world’s largest media buying agency (GroupM), and three trade associations.

“GARM also includes the so-called ‘Big Six’ as members. In the advertising industry, the ‘Big Six’ refer to the ‘biggest ad agency holding companies around the world.’ Together, these companies hold nearly every major advertising agency,” the report notes.

Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits organizations like GARM from conspiracy against commerce or restraint of trade. House Republicans, however, warned the ongoing “collusion” between GARM and the world’s largest advertisers inevitably results in unjust viewpoint censorship of popular dissidents over their First Amendment-protected speech.

When Elon Musk took over Twitter and turned it into X, GARM, at the behest of Rakowitz, organized a boycott among its members to prevent advertisers from spending their money there. Rakowitz denied his role in the coordinated campaign against Musk’s free speech efforts in a transcribed interview with Republican investigators, but documents obtained by the committee indicate he “took credit for Twitter’s revenue decline.”





Steer Team member Unilever also complained to Rakowitz about “issues” with the platform’s “overtly partisan takes (e.g., Hunter Biden laptop exposé.)”

GARM applied similar tactics against “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2022 after Steer Team member Joe Barone of GroupM determined that advertisers and platforms like Spotify should be concerned about the alleged “misinformation” about Covid-19 shots touted by the top podcaster. The committee noted that “GroupM knew there was no brand safety concern because it did not buy advertisements on Mr. Rogan’s podcast, but it still sought to silence Mr. Rogan’s views anyway” by bringing their concerns to GARM.





Coca-Cola also approached GARM about Spotify and Rogan’s show. Rakowitz “indicated he could not collectively tell every GARM member what to do” because it “gets us into hot water by way of anticompetitive and collusive behaviors,” so “instead, he advised GARM members individually what to do, effectively aligning all GARM members.”



“Mr. Rakowitz’s power comes from the members of GARM and their advertising dollars. Because power lies with the members, when members communicate an opinion to Mr. Rakowitz, he is likely to communicate that opinion on to the platforms. Ultimately, when platforms receive the message from Mr. Rakowitz, the companies have the choice to cede to his demands or risk losing their advertising revenue,” the report notes.

GARM doesn’t simply use its own influence to convince companies to turn against dissenters. The organization also pushes companies to use rankings from government-backed censors like Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard, which repeatedly blacklist conservative outlets such as The Federalist, to determine who bears the brunt of their coordinated boycotts.

News outlets like The Daily Wire, Breitbart, and even Fox News that might “cross the line” by offering what the committee called “disfavored views” were also heavily surveilled and scrutinized by Steer Team members like GroupM who used emails to discuss their hatred for the publications’ conservative roots.

The cherry on top of all of GARM’s scheming was when the organization “pushed Facebook for coordinated action around the upcoming elections similar to the actions the platform took during the COVID-19 pandemic to censor speech.” Steer Team member Unilever even pressured Facebook to censor one of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign ads discussing “Sleepy Joe.”

“GARM and its members weaponize their power to influence elections … through pressuring platforms to label content as misinformation,” the report notes.

Republican investigators said that GARM’s “collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content is alarming.”

“The extent to which GARM has organized its trade association and coordinates actions that rob consumers of choices is likely illegal under the antitrust laws and threatens fundamental American freedoms,” the report concludes.

The House Judiciary published the report the same day it hosted a hearing exploring “collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” and “whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.”

Link

This and $2.50 will get you a bad cup of coffee. The house talks a lot about a lot. I've yet to see much action.

(07-10-2024 04:47 PM)TigerBlue4Ever Wrote:  This and $2.50 will get you a bad cup of coffee. The house talks a lot about a lot. I've yet to see much action.

That’s a good point.

We need to begin systematically attacking every so-called Republican in DC who refuses to get in line with the America First agenda.

We stopped the so-called “border legislation” by putting pressure on key members of Congress. Now let’s target RINO’s and Democrats

This is not about stifling conservatives as much as it is about attacking the Christian religion.

(07-10-2024 04:24 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

Quote:The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) likely violated federal antitrust laws when it used its “tremendous market power” in the advertising world to encourage the demonization of news websites, platforms, and podcasts it deems guilty of wrongthink, a new report published by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday found.

Shortly after Rob Rakowitz co-founded GARM in 2019 with the World Federation of Advertisers, he complained that “[p]eople are advocating for freedom of speech online” and using a “‘radical interpretation[]’” of freedom of speech.” To curb this First Amendment phenomenon and prevent it from going global, he called for an “uncommon collaboration” to “rise above individual commercial interest.”

“For an organization reliant on speech and persuasion in advertising, GARM appears to have anti-democratic views of fundamental American freedoms,” the report warns.

GARM claims to “safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online” using a Steer Team of four major advertisers (Proctor & Gamble, Mars, Unilever, and Diageo), the world’s largest media buying agency (GroupM), and three trade associations.

“GARM also includes the so-called ‘Big Six’ as members. In the advertising industry, the ‘Big Six’ refer to the ‘biggest ad agency holding companies around the world.’ Together, these companies hold nearly every major advertising agency,” the report notes.

Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits organizations like GARM from conspiracy against commerce or restraint of trade. House Republicans, however, warned the ongoing “collusion” between GARM and the world’s largest advertisers inevitably results in unjust viewpoint censorship of popular dissidents over their First Amendment-protected speech.

When Elon Musk took over Twitter and turned it into X, GARM, at the behest of Rakowitz, organized a boycott among its members to prevent advertisers from spending their money there. Rakowitz denied his role in the coordinated campaign against Musk’s free speech efforts in a transcribed interview with Republican investigators, but documents obtained by the committee indicate he “took credit for Twitter’s revenue decline.”





Steer Team member Unilever also complained to Rakowitz about “issues” with the platform’s “overtly partisan takes (e.g., Hunter Biden laptop exposé.)”

GARM applied similar tactics against “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2022 after Steer Team member Joe Barone of GroupM determined that advertisers and platforms like Spotify should be concerned about the alleged “misinformation” about Covid-19 shots touted by the top podcaster. The committee noted that “GroupM knew there was no brand safety concern because it did not buy advertisements on Mr. Rogan’s podcast, but it still sought to silence Mr. Rogan’s views anyway” by bringing their concerns to GARM.





Coca-Cola also approached GARM about Spotify and Rogan’s show. Rakowitz “indicated he could not collectively tell every GARM member what to do” because it “gets us into hot water by way of anticompetitive and collusive behaviors,” so “instead, he advised GARM members individually what to do, effectively aligning all GARM members.”



“Mr. Rakowitz’s power comes from the members of GARM and their advertising dollars. Because power lies with the members, when members communicate an opinion to Mr. Rakowitz, he is likely to communicate that opinion on to the platforms. Ultimately, when platforms receive the message from Mr. Rakowitz, the companies have the choice to cede to his demands or risk losing their advertising revenue,” the report notes.

GARM doesn’t simply use its own influence to convince companies to turn against dissenters. The organization also pushes companies to use rankings from government-backed censors like Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard, which repeatedly blacklist conservative outlets such as The Federalist, to determine who bears the brunt of their coordinated boycotts.

News outlets like The Daily Wire, Breitbart, and even Fox News that might “cross the line” by offering what the committee called “disfavored views” were also heavily surveilled and scrutinized by Steer Team members like GroupM who used emails to discuss their hatred for the publications’ conservative roots.

The cherry on top of all of GARM’s scheming was when the organization “pushed Facebook for coordinated action around the upcoming elections similar to the actions the platform took during the COVID-19 pandemic to censor speech.” Steer Team member Unilever even pressured Facebook to censor one of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign ads discussing “Sleepy Joe.”

“GARM and its members weaponize their power to influence elections … through pressuring platforms to label content as misinformation,” the report notes.

Republican investigators said that GARM’s “collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content is alarming.”

“The extent to which GARM has organized its trade association and coordinates actions that rob consumers of choices is likely illegal under the antitrust laws and threatens fundamental American freedoms,” the report concludes.

The House Judiciary published the report the same day it hosted a hearing exploring “collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” and “whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.”

Link

Globohomos

I been tellin yah

(07-10-2024 04:24 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote:  

Quote:The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) likely violated federal antitrust laws when it used its “tremendous market power” in the advertising world to encourage the demonization of news websites, platforms, and podcasts it deems guilty of wrongthink, a new report published by the House Judiciary Committee on Wednesday found.

Shortly after Rob Rakowitz co-founded GARM in 2019 with the World Federation of Advertisers, he complained that “[p]eople are advocating for freedom of speech online” and using a “‘radical interpretation[]’” of freedom of speech.” To curb this First Amendment phenomenon and prevent it from going global, he called for an “uncommon collaboration” to “rise above individual commercial interest.”

“For an organization reliant on speech and persuasion in advertising, GARM appears to have anti-democratic views of fundamental American freedoms,” the report warns.

GARM claims to “safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online” using a Steer Team of four major advertisers (Proctor & Gamble, Mars, Unilever, and Diageo), the world’s largest media buying agency (GroupM), and three trade associations.

“GARM also includes the so-called ‘Big Six’ as members. In the advertising industry, the ‘Big Six’ refer to the ‘biggest ad agency holding companies around the world.’ Together, these companies hold nearly every major advertising agency,” the report notes.

Section 1 of the Sherman Act prohibits organizations like GARM from conspiracy against commerce or restraint of trade. House Republicans, however, warned the ongoing “collusion” between GARM and the world’s largest advertisers inevitably results in unjust viewpoint censorship of popular dissidents over their First Amendment-protected speech.

When Elon Musk took over Twitter and turned it into X, GARM, at the behest of Rakowitz, organized a boycott among its members to prevent advertisers from spending their money there. Rakowitz denied his role in the coordinated campaign against Musk’s free speech efforts in a transcribed interview with Republican investigators, but documents obtained by the committee indicate he “took credit for Twitter’s revenue decline.”





Steer Team member Unilever also complained to Rakowitz about “issues” with the platform’s “overtly partisan takes (e.g., Hunter Biden laptop exposé.)”

GARM applied similar tactics against “The Joe Rogan Experience” in 2022 after Steer Team member Joe Barone of GroupM determined that advertisers and platforms like Spotify should be concerned about the alleged “misinformation” about Covid-19 shots touted by the top podcaster. The committee noted that “GroupM knew there was no brand safety concern because it did not buy advertisements on Mr. Rogan’s podcast, but it still sought to silence Mr. Rogan’s views anyway” by bringing their concerns to GARM.





Coca-Cola also approached GARM about Spotify and Rogan’s show. Rakowitz “indicated he could not collectively tell every GARM member what to do” because it “gets us into hot water by way of anticompetitive and collusive behaviors,” so “instead, he advised GARM members individually what to do, effectively aligning all GARM members.”



“Mr. Rakowitz’s power comes from the members of GARM and their advertising dollars. Because power lies with the members, when members communicate an opinion to Mr. Rakowitz, he is likely to communicate that opinion on to the platforms. Ultimately, when platforms receive the message from Mr. Rakowitz, the companies have the choice to cede to his demands or risk losing their advertising revenue,” the report notes.

GARM doesn’t simply use its own influence to convince companies to turn against dissenters. The organization also pushes companies to use rankings from government-backed censors like Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard, which repeatedly blacklist conservative outlets such as The Federalist, to determine who bears the brunt of their coordinated boycotts.

News outlets like The Daily Wire, Breitbart, and even Fox News that might “cross the line” by offering what the committee called “disfavored views” were also heavily surveilled and scrutinized by Steer Team members like GroupM who used emails to discuss their hatred for the publications’ conservative roots.

The cherry on top of all of GARM’s scheming was when the organization “pushed Facebook for coordinated action around the upcoming elections similar to the actions the platform took during the COVID-19 pandemic to censor speech.” Steer Team member Unilever even pressured Facebook to censor one of former President Donald Trump’s 2020 campaign ads discussing “Sleepy Joe.”

“GARM and its members weaponize their power to influence elections … through pressuring platforms to label content as misinformation,” the report notes.

Republican investigators said that GARM’s “collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content is alarming.”

“The extent to which GARM has organized its trade association and coordinates actions that rob consumers of choices is likely illegal under the antitrust laws and threatens fundamental American freedoms,” the report concludes.

The House Judiciary published the report the same day it hosted a hearing exploring “collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” and “whether existing civil and criminal penalties and current antitrust law enforcement efforts are sufficient to deter anticompetitive collusion in online advertising.”

Link

1st day, Trump needs to sick the FTC on GARM and Google.

They like to fall back on the phony argument that they didn’t shut a website down, they just make sure it’s demonetized and that virtually no one sees it.

All they do is threaten advertisers, but the advertisers made the decision…

They just pressure banks, credit card companies, server providers etc to drop them, but the decision was theirs. “All we did was warn them of the consequences…it was their choice”

Globalist version of “we did’n do ‘nuffin”

Next boogeyman up for the GOP.

We don’t need boogeymen. We have useful idiots like yourself.

(07-10-2024 10:54 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote:  Next boogeyman up for the GOP.

I would direct your attention to the crisis of the day our MSM attempts to push on the American people.

Cue the Project 2025 hysteria

Thankfully most Americans have learned to recognize gaslighting. Most of us here, liberal or conservative, are hyper political so we’re predisposed to calling BS.

You can choose to believe everything a news channel tells you or you can look for your own answers. Take any story, read it and immediately ask what’s the writer’s bias. If the writer’s bias is easily identified, you might want to find alternative sources.

I do the above with EVERYTHING I read and I read a lot.

The more outrageous the topic, the more I look for additional sources.

(07-11-2024 05:44 AM)CardinalJim Wrote:  

(07-10-2024 10:54 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote:  Next boogeyman up for the GOP.

I would direct your attention to the crisis of the day our MSM attempts to push on the American people.

Cue the Project 2025 hysteria

Thankfully most Americans have learned to recognize gaslighting. Most of us here, liberal or conservative, are hyper political so we’re predisposed to calling BS.

You can choose to believe everything a news channel tells you or you can look for your own answers. Take any story, read it and immediately ask what’s the writer’s bias. If the writer’s bias is easily identified, you might want to find alternative sources.

I do the above with EVERYTHING I read and I read a lot.

The more outrageous the topic, the more I look for additional sources.

fk'n with the turd nuggets has long been muh fave pastime ... all they have do is open/close mouth; those li'l fingers always find the chipper shredder ...

@meanie

Nice of conservatives to remember anti-trust enforcement is a thing you can do. I can think of a ton of industries that have a "Big 6" or even fewer companies that control 80-90% of those entire industries and collude on prices, but so far that collusion seems to be just fine with conservative lawmakers as long as they don't say mean things about them.

(07-11-2024 07:32 AM)UofMstateU Wrote:  

I think they picked on the wrong guy. He has time, money and a platform.

When will the poor conservatives ever catch a break?

I can live with the MSM being all left wing. I can live with them all being lying sacks of you know what. But when they conspire to shut down alternative thoughts, that's not only un-American, but it is an illegal anti-trust activity.

Trump needs to break up Google.

(07-11-2024 09:14 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  When will the poor conservatives ever catch a break?

I thought we caught a nice break in the debate. In case you forgot how your addled liberal president performed.

https://youtu.be/fmZJ7lhroA8?si=kKEEl9Snbd0VNrmY

The last couple of weeks have been delightful. Conservatives have been giddy watching the Democrats and their minions in the media panic.

Tell us you're not going to vote for the present Drooler in Chief. I'll be voting for the convicted felon.

(07-11-2024 05:44 AM)CardinalJim Wrote:  

(07-10-2024 10:54 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote:  Next boogeyman up for the GOP.

Cue the Project 2025 hysteria.

When trump claims he doesn't know someone or something, that is code for it's not good for him or to have it be made known. He has a long history of this. As I'm sure you do recall that trump claims he knows more about everything than anyone...until it's convenient for him that he doesn't.

(07-11-2024 10:11 AM)Redwingtom Wrote:  

(07-11-2024 05:44 AM)CardinalJim Wrote:  

(07-10-2024 10:54 PM)Mr_XcentricK Wrote:  Next boogeyman up for the GOP.

Cue the Project 2025 hysteria.

When trump claims he doesn't know someone or something, that is code for it's not good for him or to have it be made known. He has a long history of this. As I'm sure you do recall that trump claims he knows more about everything than anyone...until it's convenient for him that he doesn't.

When biden does it means he has a dirty diaper or its nap time

Elon Musk to launch suit over suppression of conservative media, platforms after House Judiciary reveals global boycotts by ad companies

Quote:X owner Elon Musk has vowed to bring a lawsuit after a congressional hearing on Wednesday revealed deep bias and intentional boycotts launched by the advertising industry against conservative social media platforms and conservative media outlets. Ben Schapiro testified about these boycotts and Jim Jordan of the Judiciary Commmittee dug into concerns that a global cabal of advertising groups used concepts of misinformation and disinformation to silence suppress conservative speech online.

The group that came under the microscope was the World Economic Forum-backed Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). Elon Musk said that X would have "no choice but to file suit against the perpetrators and collaborators in the advertising boycott racket."

"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 posted in response to testimony from Ben Shapiro. He added, "Hopefully, some states will consider criminal prosecution."

The committee found in their report that "GARM’s internal documents show that GARM was asked by a member to 'arrange a meeting and hear more about [GARM’s] perspectives about the Twitter situation and a possible boycott from many companies.' GARM also held 'extensive debriefing and discussion around Elon Musks’ [sic] takeover of Twitter.'"

Additionally, the report stated that "At the urging of its members, GARM and its Steer Team threatened Spotify over alleged misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, because Mr. Rogan stated an opinion that young, healthy people need not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

"GARM even admitted it was acting outside of the scope of its work on brand safety, explaining to one of its members that '[b]rand safety is somewhat separate on Spotify versus say Facebook Newsfeed because brands aren’t being slotted into' the podcast," the report added.

Mike Benz explained to Charlie Kirk that GARM has been "weaponized as a way to destroy conservative and independent-leaning media institutions." GARM is in charge of $2.6 billion in annual programmatic ad spending on news sites and is connected to the World Economic Forum and that NATO was attempting to "kill alterantive media" with the organization.

The report as well as the testimony from Shapiro provided evidence that GARM as well as "large corporations, advertising agencies, and industry associations participated in boycotts and other coordinated action to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed disfavored by GARM and its members." The efforts to boycott outlets were largely aimed at conservative points of view.