A member of the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has called for accountability for ad entities or “advertising cartels” actively crushing free speech.
FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson warned pro-censorship advertising and media ratings entities, such as the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) and NewsGuard, to beware of committing potential antitrust violations. He also slammed government-Big Tech censorship coordination, insisting, “The only way to counter misinformation is real information.”
During an appearance on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast on Nov. 30, Ferguson affirmed that it would be against the law if advertisers were “getting in a room together and saying, ‘Hey, let’s all agree not to advertise on this platform because we don’t like that they have free speech on that platform.’”
Still referring to the censorship "cartel," Ferguson added: “So generally, under our antitrust laws, private companies can sort of decide what they’d like to do with their own resources; but one of the most important things the antitrust laws forbid is people getting in a room and agreeing we’re not going to compete.”
He also appeared to celebrate President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration, saying they could easily order government bureaucrats to stop censoring Americans. “When the government picks up the phone and calls X or YouTube or Instagram or whatever and says, I need you to take this thing down, the government can forbid its own officials from doing that,” he stated.
The Twitter Files and the landmark lawsuit Murthy v. Missouri both provided evidence of government-Big Tech collusion to censor free speech. Ferguson specifically cited and touted the Murthy case. He also stated that the Trunp administration and the FTC must investigate the tech companies and unelected bureaucrats, or “Deep State,” who won’t immediately stop the “antitrust violations that may cause censorship.”
“And it is never in the interest of the American people to censor their speech,” Ferguson emphasized. This country depends on all of us being able to share our ideas and bad speech doesn’t go away because of censorship. The only way to counter misinformation is real information.”
Advertising entities have come under fire for reportedly organizing boycotts to pressure social media into censoring certain speech. The World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), GARM’s umbrella organization, is under investigation in Texas for allegedly violating the Texas Free Enterprise and Antitrust Act of 1983. GARM weaponized its “Brand Safety Standards” to pressure advertisers into boycotting Twitter (now X) after Elon Musk bought it and promised to make it pro-free speech, according to a July House Judiciary Committee report.
Meanwhile, Federal Communications Commissioner Brendan Carr utilized Media Research Center analysis to launch an investigation into NewsGuard for pressuring advertisers to redirect revenue away from outlets deemed by AllSides as right-leaning websites online.
Conservatives are under attack. Contact your representatives and demand that Big Tech be held to account to mirror the First Amendment while providing transparency, clarity on “hate speech” and equal footing for conservatives. If you have been censored, contact us using CensorTrack’s contact form, and help us hold Big Tech accountable.
