(HorizonPost.com) – House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan in late March sent a series of letters to the chief executives of several companies, including Unilever and Procter & Gamble, requesting communications and documents related to their involvement with the Steer Team for the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), a group that has been accused of colluding to “demonetize” conservative websites.
According to a report from the Daily Wire, GARM’s Steer Team seeks to pressure advertisers to avoid “disfavored” websites in hopes of bankrupting them. GARM uses partisan organizations like NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index to determine which sites are “safe” for advertisers and which sites should be boycotted.
In a March 26 press release, Chairman Jordan said the World Federation of Advertisers’ GARM initiative “may be acting inconsistent” with antitrust laws and “congressional intent” by coordinating “efforts to demonetize and eliminate disfavored content online.”
According to Chairman Jordan, the Judiciary Committee had evidence of collusion between GARM members and members of the GARM Steer Team to boycott conservative online platforms, including news outlets, podcasts, and social media, to “demonetize” them.
He said contrary to GARM’s claims, the coordination has little to do with “brand safety” or avoiding “harmful” content. Instead, it is motivated by a “desire to censor conservative and other views” GARM members oppose.
In the letters to GARM Steer Team members, Chairman Jordan said the coordination may be illegal under the Sherman Act since the “harm” to consumers caused by GARM’s collusion “is severe.”
Jordan asked the companies to “preserve and provide documents and information” to the Judiciary Committee, including documents and communications between the World Federation of Advertisers and GARM and its members that refer to demonetization, categorization, or “elimination of online speech.”
Jordan requested communications or documents that specifically refer to any conservative outlets like Fox News, Breitbart News, and the Daily Wire. He also asked for communications and documents that refer to advertising on the social media platform X and any changes to GARM’s approach to X after the platform was purchased by Elon Musk.
Jordan gave the CEOs until April 10 to provide the Judiciary Committee with the requested documents.
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