Safety · Ars Technica
Ad firms settle with Trump FTC over argues they boycotted conservative media
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FTC aims to stamp out brand-safety standards that hurt Breitbart and Musk's X.
Key facts
- A similar Brand Safety Floor standard was imposed by the American Association of Advertising Agencies’ Advertiser Protection Bureau (APB), the FTC said
- Last year, the FTC imposed merger conditions prohibiting advertising boycotts in its approval of Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic
- The FTC’s new lawsuit also complained that Media Matters for America pressured advertisers to remove ads from Fox News and X
- One of the FTC complaint’s main targets is the ad industry’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) project, even though it was shut down nearly two years ago after a lawsuit filed by Musk’s X
Summary
The Federal Trade Commission pressured three advertising firms into settlements that will likely result in more ad spending on conservative media platforms. The FTC and eight US states filed a lawsuit against ad firms Dentsu, Publicis, and WPP yesterday, and simultaneously announced settlements with all three companies. The FTC claimed that starting in 2018, the three firms “unlawfully colluded to impose common ‘brand safety’ standards across the digital advertising industry… The ad agencies, together with their primary competitors Omnicom and Interpublic Group, operated through trade associations to establish a common ‘Brand Safety Floor’ to target ‘misinformation.’” The FTC also said that “firms like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index used this misinformation designation as a means to promote the demonetization of disfavored political viewpoints.” “This unlawful collusion not only damaged our marketplace, but also distorted the marketplace of ideas by discriminating against speech and ideas that fell below the unlawfully agreed-upon floor,” FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said.
Trump FTC stamps out brand-safety initiatives Musk lost a lawsuit against advertisers last month when a judge decided that the X boycott was legal. Last year, the FTC imposed merger conditions prohibiting advertising boycotts in its approval of Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic. The deals were approved by US District Judge Mark Pittman the same day they were filed. The settlements bar the ad firms from making agreements with third parties to refuse placement of ads “based on Covered Bases.” The settlements define Covered Bases as follows: “Covered Bases” means (1) Political or ideological viewpoints (including viewpoints as to the veracity of news reporting or other politically or ideologically contested facts, such as their characterization as “misinformation,” “disinformation,” “bias,” or similar terms); (2) adherence to journalistic standards or ethics established or set by a Third Party; and/or (3) commitment or adherence to diversity, equity or inclusion (DEI), such as diverse ownership or casting.