Texas AG Ken Paxton investigates GARM ad cartel over boycott 'conspiracy'
Texas attorney general Ken Paxton is investigating a shadowy left-leaning advertising cabal over whether it participated in a “coordinated plan or conspiracy” to boycott “certain social media...
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton launched an investigation into a shadowy left-leaning advertising cabal over whether it participated in a “coordinated plan or conspiracy” to boycott “certain social media platforms,” his office said Thursday.
Paxton is probing whether the powerful World Federation of Advertising and its now-defunct nonprofit wing, the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), pressured “advertisers not to purchase online advertising space” from sites that violated its “brand safety standards.”
GARM and its members faced intense scrutiny after a damning House Judiciary Committee report released in July accused them of a coordinated effort to suppress online free speech and restrict ads to a slew of media outlets, including The Post and Elon Musk’s X.
The Republican demanded documents and information from WFA and GARM as part of the civil investigation. Any evidence of a collusive boycott could violate state antitrust laws, according to Paxton.
“Trade organizations and companies cannot collude to block advertising revenue from entities they wish to undermine,” Paxton said in a statement. “Today’s document request is part of an ongoing investigation to hold WFA and its members accountable for any attempt to rig the system to harm organizations they might disagree with.”