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Elon Musk's X Corp. and online video and cloud services platform Rumble both filed antitrust suits against the World Federation of Advertisers in Texas federal court on Tuesday, claiming that its subsidiary, the Global Alliance for Reliable Media (GARM), conspired to withhold advertising from them. X Corp. alleges that GARM forced adherence to its standards by instigating a collective advertising boycott costing 'billions' of dollars in revenue, and Rumble has made similar allegations under the Sherman Act. Unilever and CVS Health are also listed as defendants in the X Corp. suit, while the Rumble suit adds advertising agency WPP and its subsidiary GroupM Worldwide. Musk controversially finalized a $44 billion buyout of X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter, in October 2022. According to X Corp.’s complaint, ‘GARM conveyed to its members its concerns about Twitter’s compliance with GARM’s standards' shortly after Musk’s acquisition. Both X and Rumble have cited a July 10 report published by the House Judiciary Committee, which is currently investigating GARM.

Technology

August 08, 2024, 4:42 PM