Elon Musk’s X settles multiyear legal battle with the World Federation of Advertisers
X has settled a legal battle with the World Federation of Advertisers, ending a lawsuit over the platform's claims of an illegal boycott. The settlement marks a reset in the relationship between the two organizations following the discontinuation of the GARM initiative.
Why it matters
The resolution impacts the landscape of digital advertising and content moderation standards on social media platforms.
Elon Musk’s X has settled its multiyear legal battle with advertising trade group the World Federation for Advertisers (WFA), the two organizations said on Wednesday.
The settlement ends Musk’s aggressive attempt to hold advertisers legally responsible for pulling spending from X over brand safety concerns.
X sued the WFA in 2024 for conducting what it called a “systematic illegal boycott” of the platform after it saw a decline in advertising revenue following Musk’s $44 billion takeover of the social network in 2022. Companies X accused of doing so included Mars, CVS Health, Shell, Lego, and more. The advertisers rejected the allegations and argued that brands are free to decide where to spend their advertising dollars.
A federal court dismissed the lawsuit in March after a judge said X had failed to demonstrate that it had suffered any harm under federal competition laws. X had appealed the decision in April.
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