News Corp CEO Demands ‘Consequences’ For GARM

News Corp CEO Robert Thomson called for “commercial consequences” for the now-defunct left-wing advertising cartel accused of organizing an ad boycott against a slew of news outlets and platforms – including The Post.

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media, or GARM, was abruptly shut down Thursday after a damning report by the House Judiciary Committee uncovered evidence that its far-let boss Robert Rakowitz coordinated a campaign to stifle free speech and restrict ads.

Thomson said The Post’s parent News Corp is now “considering our legal options in confronting the blatant political bias of advertising industry bodies who have done serious damage and denied many advertisers access to a significant audience.”

Robert Thompson

“We applaud the work of the US House Judiciary Committee in pursuing the misnomer that is the Global Alliance for Responsible Media or GARM, and its coordinated boycott of media platforms perceived to be unfashionable by illiberal liberals,” Thomson said on the company’s fourth-quarter earnings call Thursday.

GARM was a nonprofit initiative formed by the World Federation of Advertisers, an international trade group whose members include dozens of top corporations that account for 90% of global marketing spending, according to its website.

Earlier this week, Elon Musk’s X filed an antitrust suit naming GARM, the WFA and a handful of specific companies — CVS Health, Mars, Orsted and Unilever – as defendants.

X is seeking trebled compensatory damages and injunctive relief over claims that the defendants participated in an illegal ad boycott. The lawsuit, filed in Texas, claims X lost “billions of dollars in advertising revenue” as a result of their actions.

WFA pointed to the House Judiciary Committee’s report and X’s antitrust lawsuit as key factors in its decision to shutter GARM.