FTC investigates media watchdog over Musk's X boycott claims, document shows
The civil investigative demand seen by Reuters seeks information about Media Matters' communications with other groups that evaluate misinformation and hate speech in news and social media, including a World Federation of Advertisers initiative called Global Alliance for Responsible Media. X has ongoing lawsuits against both organizations.
The inquiries mark an escalation in US government scrutiny of whether groups like Media Matters helped advertisers coordinate to pull ad dollars from X after Musk bought the social media site formerly known as Twitter in 2022.
The demand seeks all documents Media Matters, a Washington, DC-based liberal advocacy group, has produced or received in the X lawsuit related to advertiser boycotts.
FTC chair Andrew Ferguson, who was appointed by Donald Trump to run the agency, highlighted the potential for an investigation in December.
'We must prosecute any unlawful collusion between online platforms, and confront advertiser boycotts which threaten competition among those platforms,' Ferguson said in a statement on an unrelated case.
The US House judiciary committee, chaired by Republican member Jim Jordan, accused the Global Alliance for Responsible Media last year of coordinating an illegal group boycott. The initiative was shut down in August.
A spokesperson for the FTC declined to comment.
Media Matters and the World Federation of Advertisers did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
An investigative demand is not proof of wrongdoing, and not all investigations result in the FTC taking enforcement action. Advertising spending on X is set to increase in 2025 for the first time since Musk bought it in 2022, research firm Emarketer said in March, but it remains below its pre-Musk level. The Tesla CEO was a major donor to Trump's 2024 presidential campaign and runs his initiative to slash the federal workforce.
Last year, X sued the World Federation of Advertisers and a group of major brands in federal court in Texas, accusing them of illegally conspiring to curtail ad spending.
The group has asked a judge to dismiss the lawsuit, contending that advertisers chose other platforms based on their concerns about X's commitment to brand safety.
Media Matters and X are battling each other in federal courts in Texas and California.
X sued Media Matters in 2023, accusing the organization of defaming it in an article that said ads for major brands had appeared next to posts on X that touted far-right extremist content.
Media Matters has denied the allegations, and sued X, accusing it of abusive, costly and meritless lawsuits to punish the group for its reporting on advertising on X after Musk purchased the site.
The organization has said defending against X's claims has cost it millions of dollars.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Reuters
9 minutes ago
- Reuters
US factory orders rebound in May on strong aircraft demand
WASHINGTON, July 3 (Reuters) - New orders for U.S.-manufactured goods surged in May on strong demand for aircraft and business spending on equipment appeared to be strong halfway through the second quarter. Factory orders increased 8.2% after a downwardly revised 3.9% drop in April, the Commerce Department's Census Bureau said on Thursday. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast factory orders rebounding 8.2% after a previously reported 3.7% decline in April. They increased 3.2% on a year-on-year basis in May. Manufacturing, which accounts for 10.2% of the economy, remains constrained by President Donald Trump's aggressive tariffs on imported goods. An Institute for Supply Management survey on Tuesday showed anxiety over trade policy among manufacturers in June, with manufacturers variously describing the business environment as "hellacious" and "too volatile" for long-term procurement decisions. Trump sees the tariffs as a tool to raise revenue to offset his promised tax cuts and to revive a long-declining industrial base, a feat that economists argued was impossible in the short term because of labor shortages and other structural issues. Commercial aircraft orders soared 230.8%. That reflected at least 150 aircraft from Qatar Airways placed with Boeing (BA.N), opens new tab during Trump's visit to the Gulf Arab country in May. Orders for motor vehicles, parts and trailers rose 0.8%. Orders for computers and electronic products increased 1.5%, while those for electrical equipment, appliances and components rose 0.7%. Machinery orders gained 0.4%. The government also reported that orders for non-defense capital goods excluding aircraft, which are seen as a measure of business spending plans on equipment, rebounded 1.7% in May as estimated last month. Shipments of these so-called core capital goods rose 0.4%, revised down from the 0.5% reported last month. Non-defense capital goods orders jumped 49.5%. They were previously reported to have accelerated 49.4%. Shipments of these goods dipped 0.1% instead of being unchanged as previously reported.
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
First immigration detainees arrive at Florida center in the Everglades
The first group of immigrants has arrived at a new detention center deep in the Florida Everglades that officials have dubbed 'Alligator Alcatraz,' a spokesperson for Republican state Attorney General James Uthmeier told The Associated Press. ' People are there,' Press Secretary Jae Williams said, though he didn't immediately provide further details on the number of detainees or when they arrived. 'Next stop: back to where they came from,' Uthmeier said on the X social media platform Wednesday. He's been credited as the architect behind the Everglades proposal. Requests for additional information from the office of Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis and the Florida Division of Emergency Management, which is building the site, had not been returned early Thursday afternoon. The facility, at an airport used for training, will have an initial capacity of about 3,000 detainees, DeSantis said. The center was built in eight days and features more than 200 security cameras, 28,000-plus feet (8,500 meters) of barbed wire and 400 security personnel. Immigrants who are arrested by Florida law enforcement officers under the federal government's 287(g) program will be taken to the facility, according to a Trump administration official. The program is led by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and allows police officers to interrogate immigrants in their custody and detain them for potential deportation. The facility is expected to be expanded in 500 bed increments until it has an estimated 5,000 beds by early July. Environmental groups and Native American tribes have protested against the center, contending it is a threat to the fragile Everglades system, would be cruel to detainees because of heat and mosquitoes, and is on land the tribes consider sacred. It's also located at a place prone to frequent heavy rains, which caused some flooding in the tents Tuesday during a visit by President Donald Trump to mark its opening. State officials say the complex can withstand a Category 2 hurricane, which packs winds of between 96 and 110 mph (154 and 177 kph), and that contractors worked overnight to shore up areas where flooding occurred. DeSantis and other state officials say locating the facility in the rugged and remote Florida Everglades is meant as a deterrent — and naming it after the notorious federal prison of Alcatraz, an island fortress known for its brutal conditions, is meant to send a message. It's another sign of how the Trump administration and its allies are relying on scare tactics to try to persuade people in the country illegally to leave voluntarily. State and federal officials have touted the plans on social media and conservative airwaves, sharing a meme of a compound ringed with barbed wire and 'guarded' by alligators wearing hats labeled 'ICE' for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The Republican Party of Florida has taken to fundraising off the detention center, selling branded T-shirts and beer koozies emblazoned with the facility's name. _____
The Independent
13 minutes ago
- The Independent
Condé Nast raises eyebrows with barebones post for Anna Wintour's Vogue job on LinkedIn: ‘Hiring a head of editorial'
It's now been a week since legendary American Vogue editor-in-chief Anna Wintour shockingly announced that she was stepping down and seeking a replacement to fill her Manolo Blahnik snakeskin boots. While Wintour has noted that she will remain as Chief Content Officer for Condé Nast and Global Editorial Director of Vogue, speculation has run wild over who will take over her day-to-day duties at the U.S. publication. Remarkably, as the names of potential successors continue to be debated, the company has also publicly announced the listing for a new Head of Editorial Content at American Vogue on the job-hunting social media site LinkedIn. 'Condé Nast is hiring a Head of Editorial Content for U.S Vogue,' the bare-bones LinkedIn post, which was first listed earlier this week, reads. 'If you are interested, please reach out by email with your resume to condenast@ Though it is now a generally accepted practice for media companies to post their openings – even for top editorial positions – on LinkedIn, the fact that Condé Nast is doing that to find a replacement for Wintour seems noteworthy, at least on the surface. It may also suggest that the fashion giant may not have actually whittled down the list of candidates to fill that position and is now casting a wider net. At the same time, the company hasn't made an official job listing on LinkedIn; instead, it has merely noted that the position is open and provided an email address to express interest. Still, Conde's method for looking to replace the driving force behind the Met Gala has led to eyebrows being raised. 'Applying for Anna Wintour's old job through LinkedIn is so based,' one LinkedIn user noted, while another snarked: 'crying this was posted on LinkedIn.' Meanwhile, despite the LinkedIn listing, a bevy of names at both Conde Nast and abroad have been tossed around as the next face of the magazine that Wintour turned into a fashion powerhouse. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the betting favorite to land the job is Architectural Design editor Amy Astley. 'Simply put, she's been killing it at AD, showcasing the homes of Hollywood A-listers, a list that recently includes Kendall Jenner, Michael Shannon and Lenny Kravitz,' THR noted, adding: 'The job feels like Astley's if she wants it.' Others who have been floated as taking the mantle are Vogue fashion director Tonne Goodman, British Vogue head of editorial content Chioma Nnadi, The Cut's editor-in-chief Lindsay Peoples Wagner, and Instagram director of fashion partnerships Eva Chen. The stunning revelation from Wintour, meanwhile, left many of her employees in a state of shock last week. After the 75-year-old – who was the inspiration for the diabolical lead character of The Devil Wears Prada – shared the news in a staff meeting, one employee told The Daily Mail: It was like finding out that God is stepping down from being God.
