Jordan’s House Committee targets WEF-supported plan to censor harmful online content.

House Judiciary Committee Issues Subpoenas Over Advertising Initiative

The GOP-led House Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas aimed at an advertising initiative partnered with the World Economic Forum that claims to fight against “harmful” content online. The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and the group that created it, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), may be facilitating coordination by its members in a manner that violates U.S. antitrust law.

Understanding Collusive Practices

Chairman Jim Jordan (R-OH) wrote to King & Spalding, the law firm representing the collectives, stating that “To advance our oversight and inform potential legislation related to these collusive practices, the Committee must understand whether, how, and to what extent GARM and WFA facilitate collusion to prevent certain content from benefiting from advertising dollars and to reduce that content’s presence online.”

GARM’s Ambition

GARM is a “cross-industry initiative” established in 2019 to “address the challenge of harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising,” according to WFA. The stated ambition of GARM is “to get the digital media ecosystem working together on the shared priorities that will lead to the removal of harmful content from advertiser-supported social media.”

• Budweiser-owner Anheuser-Busch InBev
• Goldman Sachs
• Johnson & Johnson
• McDonald’s
• Meta
• Twitter
• YouTube

The WFA website shows GARM has dozens of members, including Budweiser-owner Anheuser-Busch InBev, Goldman Sachs, Johnson & Johnson, McDonald’s, Meta, Twitter, and YouTube.

Pushback Against Censorship

WEF, which critics view as a hub for elites who favor global policies that threaten liberties, boasts on its website how GARM is a partner that is “creating a safe ecosystem.” Yet there has been pushback against companies that censor and demonetize content, particularly by conservatives who believe they are being punished for political reasons.

Subpoenas Issued

Jordan writes that the House Judiciary Committee has sought documents and communications “related to how GARM and WFA act to demonetize and eliminate disfavored content online, in addition to other information” ever since March of this year. The subpoenas, addressed to WFA President Raja Rajamannar and Rakowitz, demand records from January 1, 2019 to the present related to GARM, its guidelines, communications among members about targeting “disfavored content” online including with the executive branch of the U.S. government, and “free speech” considerations. Deadlines are set for May 26.

The Daily Wire has reached out to WFA and King & Spalding for comment, but neither has replied.