The Long GARM of the World Economic Forum

How the world's biggest brands seek to control online speech

An Interim Staff Report of the Committee on the Judiciary, part of the US House of Representatives, titled “GARM’S HARM: HOW THE WORLD’S BIGGEST BRANDS SEEK TO CONTROL ONLINE SPEECH” was published today.

The Committee has been investigating apparent collusion within the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and specifically its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative. In particular they have been looking at how the Alliance has been used to boycott content providers it dislikes. Furthermore, it has been used to demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets and other content deemed disfavoured by GARM and its members. The result of which eliminates content and viewpoints and most importantly, controls freedom of speech.

The WFA is a global association of senior marketers that represents over 150 of the world’s biggest brands and more than 60 national advertiser associations. They represent 90% of global marketing communications spend, which is almost $1 trillion per year.

They have a number of strategic partners including Creative Equals, “a global inclusive marketing organisation who partner with ambitious brands to think inclusion-first, act responsibly and communicate positively to make social impact and unlock growth”. Their mission is to expand markets by embracing diversity, equity and inclusion in marketing strategies.

If you were wondering why Western marketing is so aligned on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI), the WFA and its partners are you answer.

In 2019, the WFA, together with the World Economic Forum’s (WEF) Platform for Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Culture, setup GARM. GARM is made up of advertisers, agencies, media companies, platforms and industry organisations. Its mission is to “address harmful and misleading media environments and to develop and deliver against a concrete set of actions, processes and protocols for protecting brands.”

If you were wondering why Western media was so aligned during the Covid Pandemic, GARM is your answer. An unfortunate coincidence that it was setup months before the pandemic started.

Whilst GARM says it is not involved in content moderation, it does admit that “content monetization and moderation are inextricably linked and lapses in moderation put advertising and advertisers at risk.” As the Committee says, “in other words, GARM’s monetization work has the effect of influencing what content appears online.”

The report says that GARM appears to have anti-democratic views of fundamental American freedoms. Its leader and co-founder, Rob Rakowitz, “has expressed frustration with an “extreme global interpretation of the US Constitution” and complained about using “‘principles for governance’ and applying them as literal law from 230 years ago (made by white men exclusively)”. With this worldview, GARM pushed what it called “uncommon collaboration” to “rise above individual commercial interest”.”

Examples of the type of action GARM has undertaken to eliminate the monetization and in effect existence, of certain voices online include:

• Twitter and Elon Musk:

  • According to one GARM member, GARM recommended that its members “stop[] all paid advertisement” on Twitter in response to Mr. Musk’s acquisition of the company.

  • GARM’s internal documents show that GARM was asked by a member to “arrange a meeting and hear more about [GARM’s] perspectives about the Twitter situation and a possible boycott from many companies.”

  • GARM also held “extensive debriefing and discussion around Elon Musks’ [sic] takeover of Twitter,” providing ample opportunity for the boycott to be organized.

  • GARM bragged about “taking on Elon Musk” and “[s]ince then [Twitter was] 80% below revenue forecasts[.]”

• Spotify and The Joe Rogan Experience:

  • At the urging of its members, GARM and its Steer Team threatened Spotify over alleged misinformation on Joe Rogan’s podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, because Mr. Rogan stated an opinion that young, healthy people need not receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

  • GARM even admitted it was acting outside of the scope of its work on brand safety, explaining to one of its members that “[b]rand safety is somewhat separate on Spotify versus say Facebook Newsfeed because brands aren’t being slotted into” the podcast. In other words, the companies could easily choose whether to advertise on or avoid Mr. Rogan’s podcast and, therefore, GARM had no business interfering in Spotify’s decision.

  • GARM even admitted the antitrust implications of getting caught, when Mr. Rakowitz told one GARM member that he “can’t publicly advise all clients to do X – that gets us into hot water by way of anticompetitive and collusive behaviors.” To get around this problem, Mr. Rakowitz offered to “help [brands] formulate a [point of view] 1:1.” In doing so, even as Mr. Rakowitz mistook his trade association members with “clients,” such a coordinated action implicates antitrust law.

• Candidates, platforms, and news outlets with opposing political views:

  • GARM and its members discussed a strategy of blocking certain news outlets like Fox News, The Daily Wire, and Breitbart News. One GARM Steer Team member candidly wrote that although he “hated their ideology and bulls**t,” his company “couldn’t really justify blocking them for misguided opinion[s]” so the company “watched them very carefully and it didn’t take long for them to cross the line.”

  • Additionally, GARM pushes its members to use news rankings organizations, like the Global Disinformation Index (GDI) and NewsGuard, that disproportionately label right-of-center news outlets as so-called misinformation.

  • GARM and its Steer Team even participated in efforts to label a social media advertisement paid for by President Donald Trump as “misinformation.” When Facebook would not label the advertisement as misinformation, Mr. Rakowitz told a colleague that it was “[h]onestly reprehensible[.]”

  • A GARM Steer Team member expressed concern about Mr. Musk exposing the truth regarding how Twitter was previously used to censor the Hunter Biden laptop and Biden family influence peddling story, describing Mr. Musk’s position as an “overtly partisan take[.]”

GARM now plans to use AI tools to integrate its standards across social media platforms. This may have the result of automatically censoring content by demonetising views or voices that GARM and its associates dislike.

The report says that “such concentrated market power is dangerous, and the implications of AI technology on advertising censorship are frightening”.

If you thought restrictions on freedom of speech were bad during the pandemic, just wait for what GARM have in store for you during the next crisis.