The company claimed that members of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media coordinated to dissuade brands from advertising on X.

filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a coalition of major advertisers, claiming that it had violated antitrust laws by coordinating with brands to dissuade them from spending money on the social media platform.

The suit, filed in federal court in Texas, claims that the coalition, known as GARM, “conspired” with leading brands, including CVS, Unilever, Mars and the Danish energy company Orsted, to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue” that were owed to X, then known as Twitter, in the wake of Elon Musk’s takeover of the social media company in 2022.

With the lawsuit, X effectively declared war on advertisers, which provide the bulk of the social media company’s revenue. Since Mr. Musk acquired the company and promised to usher in a new era of unfettered free speech, many advertisers have limited their spending on X, concerned by reports of rising hate speech and misinformation there. By pursuing legal action against GARM, Mr. Musk continued to break with the leaders of other social media companies, who have forged close relationships with advertisers and been responsive to their concerns about offensive online content.

  • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    He told them to fuck off, and is now but hurt that they took his advice.

    Musk is literally that kid whose mom made you include him even though nobody liked him.

    • Kalkaline @leminal.space
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      3 months ago

      Advertisers also don’t want their products displayed next to pro-Nazi content either. Can’t forget that part.

    • DandomRude@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      Yes, since Musk fired his PR team in 2020, things have gone steadily downhill for him. That was probably one of his worst decisions, considering how successful his PR team was in falsly portraying him as a tech genius and progressive visionary. Well, now it is clear to everyone that this was never even remotely true.

      • FuglyDuck@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        Considering how monumentally douchey musk is… that team was probably among the best in the world. Hope whoever picked them up on the bounce is good to them. Or just good. We don’t need another musk.

    • Mog_fanatic@lemmy.world
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      3 months ago

      What an absolutely fantastic example of “fuck around and find out.” Tell people to go fuck themselves, so they don’t want anything to do with you, and then you cry about it. It’s poetry.