Partisan targeting or legitimate antitrust inquiry?
The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is seeking documents from the left-leaning nonprofit Media Matters to determine whether the self-styled watchdog conspired with other organizations to orchestrate illegal advertiser boycotts of conservative news sites in violation of antitrust laws. In 2024, Elon Musk sued the company for allegedly costing his X platform billions of dollars in lost advertising revenue, leading some observers to criticize the current FTC inquiry as a Musk-inspired alliance.
What FTC Seeks
The FTC seeks communications between Media Matters and the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) — a cross-industry initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers involving agencies, media companies, advertisers, and industry organizations — established in 2019 with the stated goal of combatting online disinformation. GARM used a “Steer Team” of four major advertisers (Procter & Gamble, Mars, Unilever, and Diageo), three trade associations, and GroupM (the world’s largest media buying agency) to “safeguard the potential of digital media by reducing the availability and monetization of harmful content online.” The company claims it “has enhanced transparency in ad placements on digital social media by providing voluntary and pro-competitive tools for the advertising industry.” Critics accuse it of election interference and disseminating its own misinformation.
Current media coverage highlights claims of lost profits for Musk and unlawful advertiser boycotts, but congressional inquiries into the roles these companies played suggest that speech manipulation related to vaccine information, political bias, the Hunter Biden laptop, and opposition to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter (now “X”) may be involved. Revelations that the Joe Biden administration improperly pressured social media companies to regulate content have included the Twitter platform prior to Musk’s purchase.
Media Matters, an overtly left-wing entity, seems to focus exclusively on criticizing conservative media outlets. Recent headlines include “STUDY: Interacting with these popular right-leaning comedy podcasters can turn your TikTok feed into a swamp of Andrew Tate-style misogyny and conspiracy theories” and “Megyn Kelly singles out trans people for hate.” Yet the company insists it did not engage in the unlawful collusion alleged by Musk’s August 2024 lawsuit.
Media Matters Defiant
Media Matters filed a countersuit, accusing the billionaire businessman of waging a costly nuisance suit to punish the group for legal reporting about advertising on X, disrupting its business, and alienating customers. Media Matters President Angelo Carusone claims the FTC investigation is a retaliatory witch hunt, publicly stating:
“[The Trump administration has] been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics.
“It’s clear that’s exactly what’s happening here, given Media Matters’ history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won’t work; we remain steadfast to our mission.”
The FTC investigation involves more than an illegal group boycott: It addresses what Republican investigators have labeled “collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content.” Prior reports suggest that there may be substance to Elon Musk’s claims of impropriety and content regulation.
A July 2024 House Judiciary Committee report stated:
“Through GARM, 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 …
“This collusion can have the effect of eliminating a variety of content and viewpoints available to consumers.”
The report chronicled the targeting of Joe Rogan’s podcast due to his statement that young, healthy people need not take the COVID-19 vaccine. It also alleged a calculated GARM opposition to Musk’s acquisition of Twitter “related to his beliefs regarding the publication by the New York Post of Hunter Biden’s laptop.”
At its root, the FTC investigation seeks clarification of the possible complicity of Media Matters in efforts to undermine conservative platforms — including the New York Post, Reason magazine, RealClearPolitics, The Daily Wire, Blaze Media, The American Conservative, The Federalist, and The American Spectator by labeling them “risky” sites, even as left-leaning sites such as BuzzFeed News and HuffPost were listed as “least risky.”
The FTC will face off against Media Matters and other groups alleged to have potentially violated Sherman Act prohibitions against conspiring to restrain trade or commerce. The investigation coincides with growing revelations about media cover-ups of President Biden’s mental state, unlawful government coercion of Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms, and a growing distrust of mainstream media outlets.
The stakes are high for Media Matters and Musk. They may be even higher for democracy and free speech.
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