Elon Musk, Twitter and EA accuse a group of advertising companies, including Twitch and EA, of conspiring to undermine the platform and violating US antitrust laws

In an effort to save the fortunes of Twitter - the company that continues as Elon Musk's most spontaneous purchase - the company has sued a advertising alliance, World Federation of Advertisers as well as specific firms like Mars and Unilever over a conspiracy of giving the platform the cold shoulders.

The hearing was held in the US House of Representatives on last month over allegations of collusion within the Global Alliance of Responsible Media, an initiative created by WFA and which counts companies such as EA, Twitch, and Tiktok among its members.

In a video posted to Twitter, Linda Yaccarino, CEO of the company, said that she was "shocked" by the evidence uncovered in the House Judiciary Committee proving that a group companies had organised a systematic boycott illegal against X. The video has a strange, uncanny quality. It is full of exaggerated gestures and deliberate, slow speech, which reminds one of someone trying to talk with a group of unruly kids. "It's just wrong," Yaccarino proclaimed while pointing a finger at the screen.

Yaccarino announced the lawsuit in the video against the WFA and GARM, as well as four "key members", namely CVS Health, Mars Orsted, and Unilever. The rest of the video portrays the lawsuit as defending Twitter users, including an audacious claim that the alleged conspiracy "puts [your] global town square - the only place you can express yourself openly and freely - at risk".

Musk's takeover of Twitter opened the floodgates, and he destroyed the moderation teams. This turned the platform into a haven for conspiracy theorists and bigots. Media Matters revealed in 2023 that Twitter was running ads for Apple and other companies next to "pro Nazi content". A long list of companies, including Sony, Warner Bros, and Ubisoft, temporarily halted their advertising on Twitter. Twitter then filed a suit against Media Matters. The case will be heard in April 2025.

The lawsuit states that "Media Matters set up its account to only follow 30 users (far fewer than the average number followed by an active user, which is 219), severely restricting the amount and type content featured on its feed." The lawsuit also accuses Media Matters for altering its "scrolling, refreshing and reloading activities in an effort to manipulate inorganic combination of advertisements and contents".

Advertisers argue that they have a right to protect their brand by only advertising on platforms which do not harm it. Unilever's Herrish Patel stated in a press release following the hearing last month that "no platform has a legal right to our advertising dollars."

The GARM initiative (a list of its members is available on its website) describes itself as a "forum for the creation and implementation of solutions to improve online safety, for both consumers and for advertisers", and states that its goal to create an ecosystem will "lead towards the removal of harmful material from advertiser-supported Social Media"

Twitter claims, however, that it meets or surpasses the safety standards set by GARM. In an open letter addressed to advertisers, Yaccarino stated that "we have proven that our platform allows advertisers to showcase their brands while reaching their target audiences in a safe, efficient and effective manner."

Musk's comments on the lawsuit were a little shorter, probably because he is busy creating superhuman players. "We tried peace in the past two years," he said. "Now it's war".