Social Media Platform X Company Files Lawsuit Against Multiple Advertisers
TapTechNews August 7th news, the social media platform X Company (formerly Twitter) filed a lawsuit against several large advertisers such as Unilever, Mars, CVS, Ørsted, etc. on Tuesday, accusing them of participating in an illegal boycott against X Company.
The lawsuit documents show that dozens of brands such as Unilever, Mars, CVS, and Ørsted have taken joint actions through the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiated by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), collectively refusing to invest billions of dollars in advertising fees on the X platform.
According to the regulations of GARM, enterprises joining the alliance must agree to stop advertising on social platforms that do not meet its safety standards. X Company accused GARM of organizing an advertiser boycott against X Company, forcing the company to comply with the alliance's safety standards. Although X Company announced happily to rejoin GARM last month, it still decided to file a lawsuit.
TapTechNews noticed that X Company's CEO Linda Yaccarino posted a video on X, saying: The evidence and facts are on our side. They colluded to boycott X, which threatens our future viability. This will put your global 'town square' - a place where you can freely and openly express yourself - at long-term risk.
Elon Musk also said in another post that he strongly encourages any company that is systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit, because such behavior may violate the Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act (RICO) and constitute a criminal offense.
Whether X Company's lawsuit can succeed is not clear, because the right to choose the advertising placement location is protected by the First Amendment. The advertising technology watchdog organization CheckMyAds also said that advertisers have the right not to invest funds in platforms that spread hate and conspiracy theories.
X Company requires the court to rule that the advertisers' behavior is illegal and compensate for the losses to be determined in the trial. This is the latest in a series of lawsuits by Musk, and most of the previous lawsuits have not been successful. Although he withdrew the lawsuit against OpenAI and its founders in June, he filed a lawsuit again on Monday on the grounds of manipulating the non-profit organization he co-founded.