Shadowy ad cabal GARM shuts down after Elon Musk X files antitrust lawsuit for censorship

The left-leaning advertising cabal accused of conspiring to suppress conservative media reportedly disbanded Thursday — just days after Elon Musk’s X hit the group with a federal antitrust lawsuit.

The World Federation of Advertisers, which organized the Global Alliance for Responsible Media initiative, informed its members that GARM was “discontinuing” activities, according to an email obtained by Business Insider.

WFA CEO Stephen Loerke said in his email that the decision to close GARM “was not taken lightly” and cited the initiative’s status as a nonprofit with limited resources.

GARM came under fire last month after a House Judiciary Committee alleged that its radical executive Robert Rakowitz coordinated a campaign to stifle free speech and limit advertising on a host of media and online platforms, including The Post.

In her bombshell lawsuit earlier this week, X accused GARM and the WFA of orchestrating an illegal ad boycott that cost the social media platform “billions of dollars in ad revenue.”

In addition to GARM and WFA, a handful of major companies—CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever—were named as defendants. X is seeking treble compensatory damages and injunctive relief.

The WFA’s membership includes dozens of the world’s largest companies, including Disney, Coca-Cola and Adidas, which collectively control 90% of global marketing spending, according to its website.

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said closing GARM was “an important acknowledgment and a necessary step in the right direction.”

“No small group should be able to monopolize what is monetized,” she added in her post on the social media site.

Loerke said in an email that WFA and GARM will continue to fight X’s lawsuit in Texas federal court and expressed confidence that the outcome would “demonstrate our full compliance with competition rules in all of our activities.”

When reached for comment, a WFA spokesman said the group would share a statement on its decision “soon.”

In an interview with The Post, the Chairman of the Judiciary of the House of Representatives Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio) called GARM’s death “great news for freedom, free markets, the First Amendment, all the good things that make America special.”

Jordan said the committee’s investigation is ongoing and remains focused on potential antitrust violations.

“The World Federation of Advertisers, we think, has the same bias,” Jordan said. “Our investigation is looking into all of this. It’s all about stopping censorship at all costs.”

As The Post reported last week, the House Judiciary Committee sent letters to more than 40 companies to provide information and preserve documents related to the investigation.

Adidas, American Express, Bayer, BP, Carhartt, Chanel, CVS and General Motors were among the companies that received letters.

Separately, at least two Republican state attorneys general are known to be reviewing the evidence released by the House of Representatives and weighing possible legal action.

Rakowitz’s actions have drawn intense scrutiny in the House Judiciary Committee investigation.

In an internal email obtained by the panel’s investigators, Rakowitz appeared to boast that X was “80% below revenue projections” after GARM targeted Musk over brand safety issues.

Rakowitz later claimed the email was intended as a “self-indulgent joke.”

GARM is also said to have shown bias against the Daily Wire, Fox News, comedian Joe Rogan’s podcast “The Joe Rogan Experience” and other outlets accused of spreading misinformation.

The House Judiciary report said GARM relied on tools such as the Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a London-based group that in 2022 revealed an advertising blacklist of 10 news outlets, the opinion sections of which lean conservative or libertarian, including The Post, RealClearPolitics and Reason. magazine.

The House committee’s investigation focuses on whether GARM, WFA and its members violated Section 1 of the Sherman Antitrust Act, which governs unlawful restraint of trade.

GARM and WFA denied wrongdoing. A spokesman for the organizations previously said the allegations of anti-competitive behavior were “baseless”.