John Jefferson
The House Judiciary Committee celebrated a “big win” this week after a Japanese company said it would not pursue a plan that would reorganize or create a new version of an advertising association that allegedly engaged in censorship and boycotts of conservative media companies.
“Following the Committee’s inquiry into Dentsu potentially creating the new ‘GARM,’ Dentsu expresses to the committee that it WILL NOT pursue the ‘Dentsu Coalition’ initiative,” the committee said. “They will not pursue any other effort with similar aims.”
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The committee touted it as a “BIG WIN!” in a post on X.
The committee first began investigating the World Federation of Advertisers and its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative. Dentsu was a founding member.
The committee found “collusive activity” of GARM, and it was ultimately disbanded.
When operational, GARM was an association of advertisers, advertising agencies, online platforms and advertising tech companies that publicly said they were creating standards for media advertising. But privately, the House Judiciary Committee revealed, GARM was discussing ways to ensure conservative news outlets and platforms could not receive advertising dollars and were engaged in boycotts of conservative voices and Twitter once it became “X” under the ownership of Elon Musk.
Musk and video-sharing platform Rumble ultimately sued GARM for illegally boycotting companies, including X. Shortly after, it was disbanded.
The House Judiciary Committee this month sent a letter to Japanese company Dentsu as part of its oversight of the adequacy and enforcement of U.S. antitrust laws.
The committee then learned Dentsu was beginning the process of starting a new coalition — the Dentsu Coalition — of the world’s largest marketers with “striking similarities to GARM.” The Dentsu Coalition was expected to be “aimed at fostering substantial and sustainable investments in credible news.”
Dentsu, though, replied this week, vowing to stop its reorganization.
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“Dentsu appreciates the opportunity to allay any concerns that the recently announced research project with The 614 Group gives rise to any anticompetitive issues, constitutes any kind of effort to revive the now-disbanded Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), or was intended to do anything other than promote all forms of journalism,” general counsel of Dentsu, Susan Zoch, wrote to committee Chair Jim Jordan, R-Ohio.
“Recognizing the confusion that has surfaced surrounding the initiative, Dentsu has elected not to pursue the initiative referred to as the ‘Dentsu Coalition’ and further not to pursue any effort with similar aims,” Zoch said.
Zoch said the “goal” of researching the new project was to “provide insights for advertisers and the full spectrum of the news industry on how best to optimize their ad spend in news and the potential for increased ad spend in news.”
“From Dentsu’s perspective, the success of the initiative depended on the support (financially or otherwise) of all stakeholders in news — advertisers and all facets of the publishing industry,” Zoch wrote.
“To be clear, Dentsu did not intend or understand that the initiative would replace or succeed GARM,” she continued, saying public reporting on its initiative was “mischaracterized.”
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