Musk's latest frivolous lawsuit from his foundering social media company has done what he wanted: killed the group seeking to keep their ads away from his offensive content.
Musk's lawsuit probably won't make it far, but the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) has announced the pressure worked, and they are closing up shop.
"GARM is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances," the group said in a statement Friday. "GARM therefore is making the difficult decision to discontinue its activities."
The group, Global Alliance for Responsible Media, also known as GARM, is a voluntary ad-industry initiative run by the World Federation of Advertisers that aims to help brands avoid having their advertisements appear alongside illegal or harmful content. GARM confirmed it is still planning to defend itself in court.
The end of GARM marks a temporary victory for Musk and X CEO Linda Yaccarino, even though a judge hasn't made a ruling yet.
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However, the lawsuit could drive away even more advertisers from X, Nandini Jammi and Claire Atkin, founders of watchdog group Check My Ads Institute wrote in an op-ed Thursday. "Everyone can see that advertising on X is a treacherous business relationship for advertisers," they said.
The lawsuit claims GARM organized "to collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising from Twitter" because the group was concerned that the platform had deviated from brand safety standards after Musk's acquisition in late 2022.
GARM has over 100 members. Four of those members — CVS, Unilever, Mars and the Danish energy company Ørsted — were named defendants in the suit filed in federal court in Texas Tuesday.
CNN
Previously:
• Takedown archive Chilling Effects removes self from search engines
• Boebert laments the chilling effect media attention has had on her hands-on theater-going
• Judge slams Twitter's attempt to silence hate speech watchdog
