The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) is probing whether advertisers and media fairness rating companies are illegally colluding to orchestrate advertiser boycotts targeting conservative media, potentially violating the Sherman Act.
The Washington Times reports the investigation involves about a dozen entities, including Ad Fontes Media Group, which rates news for bias, and Media Matters for America, a left-leaning watchdog focused on conservative outlets. The FTC issued a 21-page civil investigative demand to Ad Fontes and others, requesting detailed operational and relational data with groups like NewsGuard, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, and Check My Ads Institute.
Elon Musk’s lawsuit against Media Matters, alleging it coordinated an ad boycott against his platform X, sparked related scrutiny, though Media Matters denies the claim.
Conservative media have long argued that rating firms like NewsGuard unfairly deter advertisers by using biased systems to discredit their content. The Washington Times verified the subpoena’s contents.
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