Whereas the prerogative of commercial sponsors is the very definition of free speech, Elon Musk—who previously dismissed advertisers leaving the platform back in 2022 when he took over Twitter and significantly changed the tenor of the dialogue—has sued a small cross-industry initiative run under the 
non-profit organisation called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media by the World Federation of Advertisers, a consortium of about a hundred member companies, including Unilever, Mars, CVS (an American pharmacy chain) and รrsted (a Danish energy company, out of existence (at least temporarily), citing anti-trust violations by conspiring to impose an embargo and “demonitise certain viewpoints in order to limit consumer choice.” Founded in the aftermath of the tragic 2019 Christchurch Mosque shootings, livestreamed on Facebook and lingered for an uncomfortable amount of time before being taken down, GARM works to promote responsible content moderation to help avoid members’ ads from appearing alongside hate-speech or harmful content. This is not Musk’s first lawsuit against media watchdogs, whose analysis and reporting on content on the platform has led to a mass exodus by users and sponsors and loss of revenue for the company.
one year ago: language and idiolects (with synchronoptica) plus assorted links to revisit
seven years ago: a visit to Castle Frankenstein, workplace diversity, the roots of Nintendo plus geopolitical alternatives for a united Europe
eight years ago: lipogrammatical literature plus presidential plushies
ten years ago: embargoes and boycotts
eleven years ago: St Lawrence plus America’s unique global taxation scheme
