High-profile conservatives took a victory lap this month after an antitrust lawsuit filed by Elon Musk’s X, which alleged an ad trade group and its members illegally conspired to shift dollars away from the platform, resulted in the closure of the advertising initiative the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.
For many of these high-fiving observers, the triumph wasn’t merely that GARM — a two-person operation whose mission was to create common definitions around areas like hate speech and misinformation — had been toppled. It was a victory for free speech and, ultimately, a win for right versus left.
Since at least the 2016 election of President Donald Trump, conservative outlets have argued that liberal-leaning activists have pressured advertisers to boycott their sites. But the rise of the marketing practice known as “brand safety” hasn’t just hit conservative outlets. It’s dealt a revenue blow to publishers across the political spectrum.
Initially fearful of inadvertently funding hate …