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The House Judiciary Committee has published a damning interim report on the shadowy network of online censors that “rob consumers of choices and are likely illegal under the antitrust laws.” according to the report titled “GARM’s Harm: How the World’s Biggest Brands Seek to Control Online Speech.”
GARM(GlobalAllianceforResponsibleMedia}isaninitiativeoftheWorldFederationOfAdvertisers(WFA)whichrepresentsabout150oftheworld’stopcompaniessuchasExxonMobil,GM,GeneralMills,McDonald’s,Visa,SCJohnson,andWalmart,aswellas60adassociationsworldwide.
“TheextenttowhichGARMhasorganizeditstradeassociationandcoordinatesactionsthatrobconsumersofchoicesislikelyillegalundertheantitrustlawsandthreatensfundamentalAmericanfreedoms,”saidtheCommitteereport,whichisbasedoninternalorganizationalreports.
“TheinformationuncoveredtodateofWFAandGARM’scollusiveconducttodemonetizedisfavoredcontentisalarming,”claimsthereport.
TheWFArepresentsabout90%ofglobaladvertisingdollarsspent,almost$1trillionannua
