X sues major firms, advertiser coalition over alleged illegal boycott

The social media platform X announced Tuesday that it would sue an advertiser collusion group and its members for allegedly orchestrating an illegal boycott against X and other firms.

Among the defendants are CVS Health, Orsted, Unilever, and Mars, all of which are GARM (Global Alliance for Responsible Media), an initiative of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA).

"The illegal behavior of these organizations and their executives cost X billions of dollars," X CEO Linda Yaccarino wrote on social media. 

Yaccarino said that she had read the House of Representatives Judiciary Committee’s report entitled “GARM’s (Global Alliance for Responsible Media) Harm” and found evidence of an illegal boycott against many companies such as X.

"This is not a decision we took lightly, but it is a direct consequence of their actions," Yaccarino said. 

The lawsuit was filed in Texas and alleges that GARM worked with co-conspirators to withhold advertising money from X, according to Axios.