The House Judiciary Committee is expanding its probe into the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) amid allegations that the organization colluded with advertisers to blacklist conservative news outlets. Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) has sent letters to over 40 companies associated with GARM, including major corporations like Pepsi,
Adidas, and Shell, requesting relevant documents and clarification on their involvement.
Jordan’s letter outlines evidence of coordinated actions by GARM and its member companies, including boycotts of conservative social media platforms, podcasts, and news outlets. This follows testimony from Daily Wire co-founder Ben Shapiro, who revealed that GARM executives used guidelines on “conspiracy theories” and “misinformation” as a pretext to withhold revenue from conservative sites like The Daily Wire.
The investigation seeks to determine if GARM and advertising firms manipulated or misled their clients or if these clients actively participated in denying advertisements to conservative websites. Jordan emphasized that such coordinated actions, if proven, could violate antitrust laws.
“GARM has deviated far from its original intent of creating a ‘more sustainable and responsible digital environment,’ instead using its market power to demonetize voices and viewpoints it disagrees with,” Jordan wrote. He also questioned whether companies agreed with GARM executive Robert Rakowitz’s views on the U.S. Constitution being an obstacle for advertisers.
The letters ask companies if they participated in any collective boycotts with GARM, were aware of coordinated actions against conservative media, or supported these actions. Companies named in the investigation include Adidas, American Express, Bayer, BP, Colgate-Palmolive, Dell, General Mills, Goldman Sachs, HP, McDonald’s, Microsoft, Nike, PepsiCo, and Verizon.
Emails disclosed to the committee reveal that Joe Barone, GroupM’s Managing Partner for Brand Safety Americas, listed The Daily Wire as “high risk” under “Conspiracy Theories,” despite no findings of misinformation. GroupM CEO Christian Juhl struggled to defend these actions during testimony and was subsequently replaced.
The committee’s expanded probe aims to uncover the full extent of GARM’s influence and the implications for conservative media outlets.
