House Republicans are celebrating a "big win" after a Japanese company informed it won't pursue an initiative they said would result in the sabotaging of conservative media outlets.
"Following the Committee's inquiry into Dentsu potentially creating the new 'GARM,' Denstu expresses to the committee that it WILL NOT pursue the 'Dentsu Coalition' initiative. They also say they will not pursue any other effort with similar aims," the House Judiciary Committee said in a post on X.
🚨 #BREAKING: Following the Committee’s inquiry into Dentsu potentially creating the new “GARM,” Dentsu expresses to the committee that it WILL NOT pursue the “Dentsu Coalition” initiative.
— House Judiciary GOP 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@JudiciaryGOP) October 21, 2024
They also say they will not pursue any other effort with similar aims.
BIG WIN! https://t.co/hHxzO9B7d3 pic.twitter.com/EZTE9m91hj
The committee had given the company a hard deadline earlier in October to provide documents related to the initiative. It claimed it sought to investigate whether the company was engaging in activity similar to the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) an advertising consortium the body previously probed for the same reason.
They alleged that companies that were part of the consortium, including Adidas, McDonalds, Goldman Sachs and Red Bull, were engaging in "coordinated action" including "boycotts of disfavored social media platforms, podcasts and news outlets."
GARM ended up "discontinuing" its activities after the probe and an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk's X against the World Federation of Advertisers, of which GARM was a part.
In that context, House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan said that Dentsu, a founding member of GARM, "has started a new coalition of the world's largest marketers with striking similarities to GARM" and requested a series of document to determine whether that was the case.
The lawmaker gave the company until October 17 to provide the documentation, adding that "Dentsu's coordinated actions may be illegal." "As outlined in the Committee's report, the anticompetitive effects of GARM's actions were severe. For example, as the Committee detailed, initiatives like GARM starve disfavored news outlets of crucial funding," Jordan added to back his claim.
Two weeks later, on the day of the deadline, the company replied and clarified that "recognizing the confusion that has surfaced surrounding the initiative, Dentsu has elected not to pursue the initiative referred to as the 'Dentsu Coalition' and further not to pursue any other effort with similar aims." "BIG WIN" the Committee added in its publication celebrating the news.
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