X sues the World Federation of Advertisers, GARM, and GARM members CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, and Unilever over what Linda Yaccarino calls an “illegal boycott”
In an all-hands at X, formerly Twitter, CEO Linda Yaccarino attempted … Karissa Bell / Engadget : X sues advertisers for ‘illegal boycott’ of the platform Grace Eliza Goodwin / Business Insider : Elon Musk's X has lost tons of advertisers. The platform's solution is to sue them. Bradly Shankar / MobileSyrup : X (Twitter) sues advertisers, claiming ‘illegal boycott’ of the platform Josh Marcus / The Independent : Elon Musk declares war and files a huge lawsuit on X advertisers: ‘We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war’ Madlin Mekelburg / Bloomberg : Musk's X Sues Group Over Ad Boycott That Cost Billions Wired : Elon Musk's X Sues Advertisers Over Alleged Boycott William Gavin / Quartz : Elon Musk's X thinks boycotting advertisers are creating a monopoly against it Reuters : Musk's X sues Unilever, Mars and CVS over ‘massive advertiser boycott’ Laurent Giret / Thurrott : X Files Antitrust Lawsuit Against Advertisers It Accuses of Illegal Boycott Sahil Patel / The Information : X Sues Ad Industry Group, Some Top Advertisers Hannah Murphy / Financial Times : Musk's X sues brands and trade group over advertising boycott Krystal Scanlon / Digiday : X files federal antitrust suit against GARM, WFA, CVS Health, Mars, Orsted, Unilever Ad Age : Musk's X sues industry group over ad boycott Threads: Nilay Patel / @reckless1280 : Twitter suing advertising trade orgs for “withholding revenue” as an antitrust argument might be the stupidest Elon lawsuit yet, no wonder he made Linda the face of it Casey Newton / @crumbler : Over on X, Linda Yaccarino just announced the company is suing advertisers for “illegally boycotting” the platform. Apparently X believes you have a legal obligation to spend money there 😆 @coloradotravis : Yaccarino's comp package reportedly around 6m/yr with bonuses. Seems a little light to be asking a career ad exec to file a spurious lawsuit against an advertising organization tbh. Ryan Mac / @mac_ryan_ : In the meeting, Linda Yaccarino just shouted out “the press” who figured out how to report on the employee all-hands meeting in real-time. She said it's a testament to the company's popularity and importance. — RE: https://www.threads.net/... Taylor Lorenz / @taylorlorenz : Elon's latest masterful gambit: sue advertisers who don't want to advertise with him? Casey Newton / @crumbler : X's lawsuit against the advertising industry is part of a larger conservative project to weaponize the courts against content moderation — and it appears to be gaining momentum https://www.platformer.news/ ... @hunterwalk : Tired: Man in the Arena Wired: Man in the Courtroom Kali Hays / @kalihays1 : Lollloll These employees really just wanted to know about the sf office closure and instead got talking points about X ‘relaunching’ its focus on SMB advertising next month as it sues everyone else. Ryan Mac / @mac_ryan_ : It's very funny that the company's whose owner told advertisers “don't advertise” is now suing groups for..... not advertising. Dave Lee / @daveleebbg : The X-advertiser lawsuit is really something. One of its arguments is that, in one email, an unnamed employee at the World Federation of Advertisers “did not profess an unwillingness to facilitate a boycott of Twitter.” 😂 Dare Obasanjo / @carnage4life : Nothing says winning business strategy like suing advertisers for not advertising on your platform. Almost as brilliant as firing all the sales people and unbanning the Nazis then wondering why advertisers have abandoned your platform. @martinsfp : A clown car that fell in a goldmine, destroyed the goldmine, and then drove out honking its comedy horn. Kali Hays / @kalihays1 : I can't stop chuckling at antitrust Deb / @enjoyingeveryminute : This whole thought process is insane. We are a capitalist society. You support brands with your money and there is no force to do so. It is survival of the fittest. Twitter is not surviving because of the decisions its owner made. It is a rebuke of him. Drew Harwell / @drewharwell : Nothing says ‘freedom of speech’ like getting the government to force private companies to keep giving you money Matt Richardson / @mattrichardson : I had no idea they hated capitalism so much. News to me! Dustin Moskovitz / @moskov : are boycotts part of free speech, I can't remember? Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : Suing your way to business success is a novel idea (not): https://www.axios.com/... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : Blink twice Linda if you need us to come get you. https://x.com/... Kali Hays / @kalihays1 : They turned off cc on the video she posted lol. It's striking though that one, this is a lawsuit making antitrust claims against really just one association that aims to promote/support ‘brand safety’ in the advertising industry, something that's been a huge focus for a long time. … Mastodon: Chris Geidner / @chrisgeidner@journa.host : NEWS: Twitter/X wants to force people to advertise there, and they're going to court. Elon and Linda went forum-shopping, filing this case in Wichita Falls Division so that Judge Reed O'Connor was guaranteed to be assigned the case. Here's the complaint: https://storage.courtlistener.com/ ... … Kevin Beaumont / @GossiTheDog@cyberplace.social : Microsoft have now queued up to try publicly throw their customer under the bus, claiming (without evidence) Delta's CrowdStrike woes were due to non-Windows systems. The CrowdStrike issue only impacted Windows systems so I hope somebody at Microsoft knows what they are doing. — https://www.theverge.com/... @metacurity@infosec.exchange : https://www.nytimes.com/... Maybe, just maybe, companies don't want to advertise on X anymore because it's teeming with offensive, racist, sexist, anti-trans, anti-immigrant and antisemitic content encouraged by its man-baby, fascist and not too bright owner who told advertisers to f*ck off. … Marc Abrahams / @MarcAbrahams@mstdn.science : Man who publicly told people to not advertise with his company (and to “go F— yourself") files lawsuit about people not advertising with his company https://www.nytimes.com/... Jason Lefkowitz / @jalefkowit@vmst.io : Look, I'm not a lawyer. I took some pre-law classes and absolutely crushed the LSAT (go me), but that's as far as I took it. — That being said, I feel pretty confident in saying this is what actual lawyers would call a “novel interpretation” of antitrust law — https://techcrunch.com/... Dan Moren / @dmoren@zeppelin.flights : Elon Musk suing advertisers for not advertising on his site is about the funniest story I have read this year. Ian Betteridge / @ianb@mastodon.well.com : “It is illegal for companies not to trade with us” is quite the take. https://mstdn.social/... X: Linda Yaccarino / @lindayax : An open letter to advertisers Linda Yaccarino / @lindayax : A Message to X Users [video] Elon Musk / @elonmusk : We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war Elon Musk / @elonmusk : I strongly encourage any company who has been systematically boycotted by advertisers to file a lawsuit. There may also be criminal liability via the RICO Act. @rumblevideo : BREAKING: Rumble has joined @X to sue a cartel of advertisers and ad agencies who conspired to block ad revenue from going to certain platforms and content creators. GARM was a conspiracy to perpetrate an advertiser boycott of Rumble and others, and that's illegal. [image] Elon Musk / @elonmusk : Everyone who has been boycotted should file a lawsuit in every country they've been boycotted Brian Roemmele / @brianroemmele : Good to see Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 finally used to break censorship cartels. The Sherman act was to ensure a competitive market by prohibiting anti-competitive agreements and—unilateral conduct—that monopolizes or attempts to monopolize a market. END unilateral conduct. Josh Marshall / @joshtpm : they want the courts to step in and force advertisers to start advertising on twitter again. advertising is supposed to be something between two consenting busiensses. Gergely Orosz / @gergelyorosz : If you never become an advertiser on X: X can never sue you for “boycotting” advertising on the platform! (The only sensible conclusion from this mad lawsuit and the former ‘naming and shaming’ of advertisers that cut back m spend) Bill Ackman / @billackman : This is bad. @X is doing the right thing. Timothy B. Lee / @binarybits : This seems about as likely to succeed as Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI for not being open enough. Parker / @pt : Twitter is saying that advertisers not giving money to platforms that disproportionately promote specific ideologies is discrimination because that de facto benefits other ideologies. Twitter is the corporate embodiment of the trophy generation. As a fan of meritocracy, I am not [image] Claire Atkin / @catthekin : LOL @lindayaX look at your serious face here! I'm so proud to have told you to your face that you are a disingenuous person and that all the advertisers know that you are disingenuous, too. Forcing advertisers to be on X is laughably opposite free speech https://www.techpolicy.press/ ... Jacob Silverman / @silvermanjacob : The hand gestures are wayyy overdone. No one is obligated to buy advertising on this site, but it'll be interesting to see Musk try to sue advertisers into giving them money rather than focusing on making X a decent place where companies actually want to advertise. Tracy Beanz / @tracybeanz : 🚨🧵 THREAD: X Corp has sued the World Federation of Advertisers in an antitrust action. It is my understanding that Rumble is joining this lawsuit - though the docket doesn't reflect that yet. This thread will detail the complaint, and further reporting on this will be found [image] @allahliker : being brought in to shore up the advertising bleed and eventually being forced to announce a silly lawsuit against advertisers for refusing to advertise here. only on X! Josh Marshall / @joshtpm : this is exactly what this is about. they're accusing advertisers of conspire together not to advertise on X. these freaks need the federal courts to compel companies to advertise on their shit platform. amazing. Chris Pavlovski / @chrispavlovski : If you have been boycotted by advertisers. Follow the lead by Rumble and X. Now is the time to break the cabal. Kylie Robison / @kyliebytes : NEW: In an all-hands at X, formerly Twitter, CEO Linda Yaccarino attempted to rally the troops after X filed a lawsuit against a coalition of major advertisers, claiming it had coordinated an “illegal boycott” and cost the company billions of dollars. Yaccarino urged employees @snazzylabs : I am pleased to announce that I will be suing Apple since they do not pay me money. @scottderrickson : Here's @elonmusk telling boycotting advertisers, “don't advertise” and “go fuck yourself”. And now you're gonna sue them for not advertising? Good luck with that. [video] Chris Pavlovski / @chrispavlovski : Google just found out that they can't rig the search market to exclude their competitors anymore. And soon a cabal of advertisers and agencies will find out that they can't arbitrarily engineer a boycott of Rumble & X. We've joined @X to sue them, and we'll see them in court. Thomas Baekdal / @baekdal : Heh.. I can't ever recall anyone convincing someone to advertise by suing them ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ Harry McCracken / @harrymccracken : The beatings will continue until everyone advertises on X. https://www.axios.com/... Bobby Allyn / @bobbyallyn : The most significant thing about X's lawsuit against GARM are not the allegations, but the Texas judge: Reed O'Connor. He also is overseeing X's Media Matters suit and, in an extraordinary move, allowed discovery to start BEFORE a motion to dismiss was ruled on. (1/2) Bobby Allyn / @bobbyallyn : That allowed for vast amounts of broad and costly data collection from Media Matters, which the group compared to “harassment,” leading to layoffs due to crushing litigation costs - again, before the suit's merit's were even decided. Now that same judge has the GARM case (2/2) Adam Kovacevich / @adamkovac : This is laughable as an antitrust case, of course. What's the remedy, forcing advertisers to advertise on X? Violation of their 1st Amdnt rights. Elon has a history of filing dumb lawsuits that are inevitably dismissed. This will be one of them. Farhad Manjoo / @fmanjoo : I will ask the government to make sure you buy from me says capitalist @toptickcrypto : Ah yes after firing most the employees, actively degrading the functionality of the platform, letting scam bots run rampant, and seeing revenues fall 80% the next genius idea to turn around twitter's finances is... suing all their advertisers! https://x.com/... Farhad Manjoo / @fmanjoo : this is nuts. suing companies to force them to do business with you. Kamil C / @kchoudhu : Hold on: they're suing people for not spending money on their site? I will never log off, it's so stupid. Rosey / @thechosenberg : Every good social media company has to write letters to advertisers warning them of what will happen should they stop advertising, it's just good business Ryan Barwick / @ryanbarwick : Ah, the old, sue 'em so they spend money with you chestnut! Kristy Tillman / @kristyt : TLDR; “we are suing you because we suck at business” @somewheresy : You're mad at customer churn so you're litigating? Is X secretly being run by a timeshare company? Jack Raines / @jack_raines : Publishing an open letter to advertisers on the site that you complain that advertisers are avoiding is such a gigabrain self-own. Michael J. Miraflor / @michaelmiraflor : When Linda was at NBC Universal she was a well respected leader who had the adulation of her peers and the goodwill that came with decades of trust building. Now she is suing those peers for show, because of underperformance. That's... not how this all works and she knows it. @ryxcommar : stop buying ads on our platform and we'll sue you, what a genius precedent to set Oliver Alexander / @oalexanderdk : 8.2 billion daily “video views” with 9 billion daily active minutes on X. That shows exactly how deeply flawed and misrepresentative X's “video view” metric is. X's “video views” are NOT views, but simply people scrolling past videos. [image] Colin Fraser / @colin_fraser : “Customers: if you ever stop purchasing we will sue you” is a fascinating gambit and I'm excited to see how it plays out LinkedIn: Greg Glenday : Tell me you don't understand the ad market without telling me you don't understand the ad market. If you're a seller at Twitter/X and you'd prefer … Forums: Hacker News : X files antitrust suit against advertisers over ‘systematic illegal boycott’ r/TheAllinPodcasts : Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott r/law : X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott (Gift Article) r/Destiny : Trying to force advertisers to advertise, after you tell them they can go f* themselves. r/economy : X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott r/inthenews : X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott (Gift Article) r/facepalm : X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott r/LeopardsAteMyFace : X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott r/business : X, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott r/neoliberal : Twitter, Owned by Elon Musk, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott r/law : X, the Social Media Company, Brings Antitrust Suit Accusing Advertisers of a Boycott