congressional report Archives | Restoring Liberty

A recent congressional report has uncovered troubling actions by a powerful advertising cartel, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), which allegedly sought to defund news outlets and platforms. This cartel, controlling 90% of global marketing spending, urged its members to blacklist certain media outlets using a list compiled by a shadowy, government-funded group aimed at guarding against “misinformation.”

The WFA represents 150 of the world’s largest companies, such as ExxonMobil, GM, General Mills, McDonald’s, Visa, SC Johnson, and Walmart, along with 60 ad associations. The House Judiciary Committee’s interim report, released on Wednesday, reveals that the WFA’s Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) initiative was instrumental in suppressing online free speech.

“The extent to which GARM has organized its trade association and coordinates actions that rob consumers of choices is likely illegal under the antitrust laws and threatens fundamental American freedoms,” the Republican-led panel stated in its 39-page report based on internal organizational records. “The information uncovered to date of WFA and GARM’s collusive conduct to demonetize disfavored content is alarming.”

House Republicans have previously investigated how the U.S. government bypassed free speech norms by directly pressuring platforms to censor content through the Biden White House and the Department of Homeland Security. This was often done by funding outside groups that created blacklists of outlets for advertisers to avoid. The new report’s allegations of potential antitrust violations suggest a possible course of action for the Justice Department, particularly if Donald Trump wins back the White House on Nov. 5.

The report links the WFA’s “responsible media” initiative to the taxpayer-funded Global Disinformation Index (GDI), a London-based group that, in 2022, released an ad blacklist targeting 10 news outlets with conservative or libertarian leanings, including The Post, RealClearPolitics, and Reason magazine.

Documents obtained by Congress reveal that even some GARM members doubted the validity of the GDI’s blacklist. One employee described it as “bewildering” that the GDI had labeled The Post as the “at most risk” paper in the USA for disinformation. Despite these concerns, additional documents show that the GDI’s blacklist was still promoted to WFA members as a tool to identify and suppress misinformation and disfavored outlets.

“[W]e do advise that platforms, ad-tech, agencies, use independent fact checkers to weed out mis-and-disinfo from supply chain and ad buys. GDI is one of many — NewsGuard, IFCN, etc,” wrote Rob Rakowitz, the WFA’s initiative lead for the GARM program, in response to the employee’s complaint.

Photo credit: Flickr

A new congressional report from the House Homeland Security Committee Subcommittee on Oversight, Investigations and Management ties Middle East terror organizations to Mexican drug cartels.

The report, released Thursday, is titled “A Line in the Sand: Countering Crime, Violence and Terror at the Southwest Border.” It found that the “Southwest border has now become the greatest threat of terrorist infiltration into the United States.” It specifically cites a “growing influence” from Iranian and Hezbollah terror forces in Latin America.

“The presence of Hezbollah in Latin America is partially explained by the large Lebanese diaspora in South America,” the report reads. “In general, Hezbollah enjoys support by many in the Lebanese world community in part because of the numerous social programs it provides in Lebanon that include schools, hospitals, utilities and welfare.”

The congressional report, prepared by the subcommittee’s chairman, Texas Republican Rep. Michael McCaul, argues that the “explanation for Iranian presence in Latin America begins with its symbiotic relationship with Hezbollah.”

“United in their dedication to the destruction of Israel, Iran has helped Hezbollah grow from a small group of untrained guerrillas into what is arguably the most highly trained, organized and equipped terrorist organization in the world,” the report reads. “In return, Hezbollah has served as an ideal proxy for Iranian military force – particularly against Israel – which affords Iran plausible deniability diplomatically. Hence wherever Hezbollah is entrenched, Iran will be as well and vice-versa.”

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Shock Congressional Report Exposes Advertising Cartel’s Role in Silencing Conservative Media

Congressional Report Ties Middle East Terrorists to Mexican Drug Cartels