“Dentsu expresses to the committee that it WILL NOT pursue the ‘Dentsu Coalition’ initiative. They also say they will not pursue any other effort with similar aims. BIG WIN.”
The House Judiciary Committee announced that Dentsu, a Japanese marketing company that reaches a worldwide group of clients, has officially abandoned its objective of creating a coalition with the “614 Group," another advertising agency, to boost only "credible news." It would have potentially replaced the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) after GARM was disbanded following accusations of illegal boycotts of conservative media companies.
Ohio Rep. Jim Jordan, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, made the announcement, saying "Following the Committee’s inquiry into Dentsu potentially creating the new ‘GARM,’ Dentsu expresses to the committee that it WILL NOT pursue the ‘Dentsu Coalition’ initiative. They also say they will not pursue any other effort with similar aims. BIG WIN!”
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View on XGARM, which was an alliance of companies accused of thwarting the abilities of more conservative media companies from getting advertising revenue, decided in August to "discontinue activities" after a lawsuit filed against them by Elon Musk's X and the Rumble platform. The group was squeezed for potentially violating anti-trust law because of alleged illegal advertising boycotts of both X and Rumble.
The coalition with the 614 Group and Dentsu was announced and launched on Sept 5 this year after GARM was disbanded. In an archived page of the announcement, Dentsu said, “Dentsu and The 614 Group announced today the formation of a groundbreaking coalition aimed at fostering substantial and sustainable investments in credible news. This initiative comes as a response to the growing challenges faced by journalism in the digital age, where traditional monetization strategies have struggled under the weight of brand safety and suitability measures.”
Earlier in October, the House Judiciary Committee requested documents from Dentsu after it launched the coalition project with the 614 Group to “ensure that journalism … thrives by leveraging the collective power of the [ad] industry’s foremost players,” per the Daily Wire. Pages associated with the coalition launch have been taken down, leaving those pages with 404 errors.
The page originally said that the coalition planned to “tackle several key areas” in news such as “Understand how leading marketers wish to activate in news media,” understand “why brands might block news content and finding consensus on solutions,” and claimed to be wanting to enhance “tools that allow for safer, more effective brand presence in news-related media.”
Dentsu responded to the inquiry from the House committee with assurances that the project is dead. “Dentsu appreciates the opportunity to allay any concerns that the recently announced research project with the 614 Group gives rise to any anti-competitive issues, constitutes any kind of effort to revive the now disbanded Global Alliance for Response Media (GARM) or was intended to do anything other than promote all forms of journalism. Recognizing the confusion that has surfaced surrounding the initiative Dentsu has elected not to pursue the initiative, referred to as the Dentsu coalition, and further not to pursue any other effort with similar aims.”
The House Judiciary responded to that news by saying it was a "Big win for the First Amendment" and a "Big win for oversight."
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