CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WVDN) — West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey joined the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and a coalition of states in reaching an agreement in a lawsuit filed Wednesday against three of the nation’s biggest advertising agencies, alleging that Dentsu, WPP (GroupM) and Publicis secretly conspired to create “brand safety” rules that effectively cut off advertising revenue to conservative news websites, violating the Sherman Antitrust Act.
Normally, the companies should have competed by developing their own standards. Instead, they agreed to act as one. The companies created a “brand safety floor” that labeled certain content, including topics labeled “misinformation” as off-limits for advertising. According to the complaint, this was specifically designed to cut off advertising funding for conservative news outlets, podcasters and political commentary sites.
“West Virginians deserve a media environment where news publishers succeed or fail based on the merits of their journalism—not because powerful advertising corporations have essentially censored news outlets that didn’t align with their own political ideology. This lawsuit is about protecting free speech, free press and free markets,” Attorney General McCuskey said.
The complaint cited internal communications showing that executives at these advertising companies were aware they were setting aside competition. One document encouraged the companies to keep secret the brand safety standards they were discussing, invoking the phrase: “The first rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club. The second rule of Fight Club is: You do not talk about Fight Club.”
The companies and the governmental enforcers submitted agreed orders to the court that will resolve the lawsuits. Approved by a federal judge on Wednesday afternoon, the orders ensure that Dentsu, WPP (GroupM) and Publicis are prevented from entering into agreements that would set common brand safety standards or restrict advertising based on biased and politically motivated criteria.
The FTC and West Virginia were joined by Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Texas and Utah.
Read the complaint here.
Read the final orders for Dentsu, WPP (GroupM) and Publicis.
