The House Judiciary Committee is ramping up its investigation into the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), which allegedly colluded with advertisers to keep business from conservative news outlets.
Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) on Thursday wrote to more than 40 companies connected to GARM, instructing them to turn over relevant documents to the committee. Jordan also asked the companies—including behemoths like Pepsi, Adidas, and Shell—whether they agreed with GARM’s actions.
“The Committee has uncovered evidence of coordinated action by GARM and its member companies, including boycotts of disfavored social media platforms, podcasts, and news outlets,” Jordan writes.
Jordan’s letter is the latest step in the committee’s probe of GARM. Last month, Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro testified before the committee about GARM’s actions. Emails obtained by the committee showed GARM and ad-buying executives expressing contempt for conservatives, admitting that they used rules about “conspiracy theories” and “misinformation” as a pretext to withhold revenue from conservative news sites, including The Daily Wire.
The committee’s investigation could clarify whether GARM and ad firms were manipulating or misrepresenting their customers, or if those customers were active participants in denying ads to conservative websites. If those companies—many of whom are direct competitors—coordinated their activities, they could run afoul of antitrust laws, Jordan said.
According to the committee, GARM has “deviated far from its original intent” or creating a “‘more sustainable and responsible digital environment,'” and instead “has collectively used its immense market power to demonetize voices and viewpoints the group disagrees with—even intervening in situations that do not have a so-called ‘brand safety’ concern.”
Jordan asked each company whether it agreed with GARM executive Robert Rakowitz’s complaint that an “extreme global interpretation of the US Constitution” and “taking US norms and applying them globally” was a hindrance to advertisers.
The letters also ask whether the companies “participate in any collective boycotts with GARM or its members that it believes is exempt from antitrust law, and whether they supported or were “aware of the coordinated actions taken by GARM toward news outlets and podcasts such as The Joe Rogan Experience, The Daily Wire, Breitbart News, or Fox News, or other conservative media.”
Emails reveal that Joe Barone, GroupM’s Managing Partner Brand Safety Americas, admitted the group had “Daily Wire on our Global High Risk exclusion list, categorized as Conspiracy Theories.”
In an email to Rakowitz, GroupM Executive Vice President of Global Brand Safety John Montgomery admitted that the group did not find that The Daily Wire published misinformation.
GroupM CEO Christian Juhl struggled to explain the emails when he testified before the committee alongside Shapiro. He was replaced as CEO soon after.
The companies receiving congressional letters as GARM members include:
Adidas Group
Adidas North America
American Express
Bayer AG
Bayer U.S.
Beiersdorf AG
Beiersdorf North America
BP
BP America
Centene Corporation
Chanel
Chanel
Colgate-Palmolive
CVS Health
Dell Technologies
Electronic Arts
Foreign:
FrieslandCampina
FrieslandCampina
General Mills
Goldman Sachs
Haleon
HP Incorporated
Ikea U.S.
Ingka Group
Johnson & Johnson
Kellanova
Kenvue Incorporated
Kimberly-Clark Corporation
L’Oréal
L’Oréal USA
Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy
Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy, North America
Mastercard
McDonald’s Corporation
Merck & Co. Incorporated
Microsoft Corp
Mondelēz International
NIKE Incorporated
PepsiCo
Perfetti Van Melle
Perfetti Van Melle
Pernod Ricard
Pernod Ricard North America
Red Bull GmbH
Red Bull North America Inc.
Roblox
Sanofi
Sanofi
Scotiabank
Scotiabank U.S.
Shell
Shell USA
Sony Corporation of America
Sony Group
Suntory Global Spirits
Suntory Holdings
Verizon
Volvo Cars
Volvo Cars USA
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