
The House Judiciary Committee is intensifying its scrutiny of the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) over allegations that it has collaborated with advertisers to exclude conservative news outlets from receiving ad revenue. Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-OH) has requested documents from over 40 companies, including major corporations such as Pepsi, Adidas, and Shell, to determine their involvement in this alleged bias.
Jordan’s letter, made public on X, highlights evidence suggesting that GARM and its member companies have coordinated efforts to boycott conservative social media platforms, podcasts, and news outlets. This revelation follows testimony from Ben Shapiro, co-founder of The Daily Wire, who provided emails showing GARM executives expressing bias against conservatives and using guidelines on “conspiracy theories” and “misinformation” as a pretext to deny ads to conservative sites.
The committee’s investigation aims to uncover whether GARM and advertising firms misled their clients or if those clients were actively participating in withholding ads from conservative websites. Jordan emphasized that such coordinated activities could potentially violate antitrust laws.
“GARM has veered away from its original mission of promoting a ‘more sustainable and responsible digital environment,’ instead leveraging its market power to suppress voices and viewpoints it disagrees with,” Jordan wrote. He also questioned whether companies agreed with GARM executive Robert Rakowitz’s criticism of the U.S. Constitution as a hindrance to advertisers.
The letters ask companies if they engaged in any collective boycotts with GARM, supported its actions against conservative media, or were aware of these coordinated efforts. Companies receiving these inquiries include 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 acknowledging that it did not publish misinformation. GroupM CEO Christian Juhl struggled to justify these actions during his testimony and has since been replaced.
The committee’s expanded probe aims to uncover the full extent of GARM’s influence and its potential implications for conservative media outlets, emphasizing the need for transparency and accountability.