_WHAT’S HAPPENING_
Three major advertising agencies settled with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) this week over allegations they colluded to restrict ad placements on media outlets based on political content. Dentsu, Publicis, and WPP were accused of working together since 2018 to establish common "brand safety" standards that effectively steered ad dollars away from conservative publishers and platforms like X.
The settlement, joined by eight Republican-led states, prevents the agencies from entering into agreements that limit ad buying based on a publisher's political viewpoints or news commentary. The companies did not admit wrongdoing but will face court-ordered monitoring for five years.
_THE FACTS_
The three ad agencies allegedly coordinated through trade associations to establish a common "Brand Safety Floor" that affected conservative websites, including Breitbart and Elon Musk's X platform.
Organizations like NewsGuard, the Global Disinformation Index, Check My Ads, and Media Matters for America were cited as having influenced the classification of content as "misinformation" to lobby ad buyers.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton described the conduct as "anticompetitive" and said companies had attempted to "sabotage the reach, revenue, and credibility of conservative voices."
Under the settlement terms, the agencies cannot restrict advertising spend based on a publisher's political viewpoints, ideological leanings, or DEI commitments.
Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, Utah, and West Virginia joined the FTC in the settlement.
The agencies must file annual compliance reports and appoint a compliance monitor who will serve for five years if a federal judge approves the order.
This follows a similar settlement last year when the FTC approved the Omnicom-IPG merger with conditions prohibiting steering ad buys based on political or ideological viewpoints.
A judge dismissed a similar lawsuit from X against the World Federation of Advertisers' Global Alliance for Responsible Media in March, ruling it did not state an antitrust claim.
_OUR TAKE_
The plan was straightforward: ad agencies worked with left-leaning watchdog organizations such as NewsGuard and the Global Disinformation Index to create lists that labeled conservative outlets and commentary as "misinformation." This confirms what many had suspected for years, that conservative sites were being systematically suppressed and deprived of advertisement revenue.
The start date here is worth considering: 2018. This was during the first Trump administration, when “woke” was really kicking into gear. It is only under the leadership of the FTC’s Trump-appointed chairman, Andrew Ferguson, that the anti-conservative scheme has been put to rest. Such a settlement would have been extremely unlikely to occur under a Kamala Harris administration.
