House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan is seeking documents from dozens of major companies in the U.S. over activities related to a probe over alleged corporate collusion to defund news outlets and social media platforms.
The lawmaker sent on Thursday a letter to over 40 companies, including Adidas, McDonalds, Goldman Sachs and Redbull, saying it has learned that "collusive activity is occurring within the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), of which your company is a member."
The letter goes on to say that GARM and its member companies have engaged in "coordinated action" including "boycotts of disfavored social media platforms, podcasts and news outlets."
It names The Joe Rogan Experience, The Daily Wire, Breitbard News, Fox News "or other conservative media" as examples of outlets that were targeted by these "coordinated actions," and asks the companies whether they were aware of and support them.
Moreover, the document says that since it has reasons to believe the companies were in fact aware of this, it requests a series of documents and communications related to GARM.
"This letter serves as a formal request to preserve all existing and future records and materials relating to the topics addressed in this letter. You should construe this preservation notice as an instruction to take all reasonable steps to prevent the destruction or alteration, whether intentionally or negligently, of all documents, communications, and other information, including electronic information and metadata, that are or may be responsive to this congressional inquiry," the document says.
According to the New York Post, GARM "exerts control of some 90% of global marketing spending" and has been directing the funding for political purposes. GARM "has deviated far from its original intent, and has collectively used its immense market power to demonetize voices and viewpoints the group disagrees with," the committee's letter said.
The body claims to have obtained documents showing GARM members were told not to run ads on X after Elon Musk purchased the platform (then known as Twitter) in 2022.
A spokesperson for the World Federation Alliance, Will Gilroy called the committee's allegations "unfounded," saying GARM is "not involved in operational steps relative to monetization eligibility, content ratings, platform assessments or media investment decisions," Gilroy said.
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