Elon Musk’s social media venture, X, has reached an agreement with the World Federation of Advertisers, bringing an end to their heated legal dispute that began in 2024 over allegations of a boycott by advertisers.
According to TechCrunch, this settlement was revealed through a joint statement issued on Wednesday, marking the conclusion of Musk’s attempts to hold advertisers legally liable for slashing their advertising spend on X due to worries about brand safety.
The legal skirmish started when X filed a lawsuit against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) in 2024, accusing them of leading an organized and unlawful boycott against the platform. This move followed a noticeable dip in advertising revenue for X after Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of the social media giant in 2022. Prominent companies including Mars, CVS Health, Shell, and Lego were mentioned in the lawsuit. These advertisers refuted the claims, asserting that they retain the autonomy to decide where they invest their advertising dollars.
In March, the case’s trajectory shifted when a federal court dismissed the lawsuit, stating that X had not adequately proved it endured damage under federal competition laws. Despite this ruling, X launched an appeal in April, striving to keep the case alive.
In their joint statement, both X and the WFA expressed their commitment to moving beyond the litigation, highlighting that the settlement serves to reset the relationship between the organizations, signaling a new chapter.
At the center of X’s allegations was the claim that advertisers reduced their spending on the platform because of guidelines developed by the WFA’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM). GARM was a coalition of brands and advertising agencies created to establish standards designed to prevent advertisements from appearing alongside harmful online content.
In practice, GARM worked to censor conservatives online. – News previously reported that GARM was a primary topic of a major FTC settlement with advertising giants over collusion to censor conservative outlets:
The FTC said in a complaint filed on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas that WPP, Dentsu, and Publicis coordinated on policies that limited the number of ads that ran on sites with content that the industry had identified as misinformation. The policy resulted in fewer ads running on media outlets such as – News, punishing outlets that ran content that was “lawful but disfavored.” The filing explained that these advertisers sought to impose common “brand safety” standards across the digital advertising industry. The FTC stated that the ad agencies, with their primary competitors, Omnicom and IPG, operated through their trade associations to establish a “Brand Safety Floor” to combat “misinformation.”
“The ad agencies’ brand-safety conspiracy turned competition in the market for ad-buying services on its head,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a written statement. “The antitrust laws guarantee participation in a market free from conduct, such as economic boycotts, that distort the fundamental competitive pressures that promote lower prices, higher quality products and increased innovation.”
According to the joint statement, the World Federation of Advertisers reiterated its dedication to freedom of speech, a principle that has been part of the organization’s founding constitution since 1953. The statement noted that this is a principle shared by both WFA and X. Significantly, the statement revealed that on August 9, 2024, WFA discontinued GARM. The organization committed that it will not form or restart GARM or any similar initiative in the future. Both WFA and X expressed alignment in their view that brands, platforms, and consumers will all benefit from innovation in brand safety.
The settlement marks a significant shift in the relationship between X and the advertising industry. After years of tension and legal battles, both parties appear ready to move forward. The discontinuation of GARM removes a major point of contention, while the joint commitment to brand safety innovation suggests a potential path toward rebuilding trust between the platform and advertisers.
Read more at TechCrunch here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for – News covering issues of AI, free speech, and online censorship.