FTC May Force Advertisers to Buy Inventory on Nazi Sites Which Could be a Death Blow for News

The Federal Trade Commission is floating a dangerous and insulting idea that could pave the way for regulating where advertisers must buy ads. Beyond the glaringly obvious First Amendment issues here, this also raises all kinds of brand safety problems and could very well drive a stake into the news business as advertisers may pull their spending from journalism entirely to avoid having to deal with any of this nonsense at all. Ars Technica on what the FTC is seemingly proposing in regards a merger between two massive agencies:

The Federal Trade Commission is reportedly pitching a merger condition that would forbid advertising agencies from boycotting platforms based on political content, in a move that could benefit Elon Musk's X social network and President Trump's own Truth Social platform.

As the FTC reviews a proposed merger between Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group, two large ad agencies, The New York Times reported yesterday that a "proposed consent decree would prevent the merged company from boycotting platforms because of their political content by refusing to place their clients' advertisements on them, according to two people briefed on the matter."

It gets worse.

On Monday, the FTC sent civil investigative demands to Omnicom, Interpublic, and several other large ad agencies "as part of an investigation into whether advertising and advocacy groups violated antitrust laws by coordinating boycotts of certain sites, including Elon Musk's X," The Wall Street Journal reported.

The FTC also "demanded documents from Media Matters about possible coordination with other media watchdogs accused by Elon Musk of helping orchestrate advertiser boycotts of X," Reuters reported on May 22. X has a pending lawsuit against Media Matters and another against the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and several large corporations. Law professors have said that advertisers have a strong defense under the First Amendment, but Musk's firm reportedly cajoled some companies into buying ads by threatening to sue them.

Media Matters wasted zero time in filing a lawsuit against the administration, btw.

Media Matters for America has sued the US Federal Trade Commission, claiming that the agency is unfairly targeting it in retaliation for past criticisms of the social media platform X in violation of the organization's First Amendment rights. It's the latest move in the ongoing hostilities between the nonprofit media watchdog and X owner Elon Musk.

"The Federal Trade Commission seeks to punish Media Matters for its journalism and speech in exposing matters of substantial public concern—including how X.com has enabled and profited from extremist content that proliferated after Elon Musk took over the platform formerly known as Twitter," the complaint from the watchdog states. "The campaign of retribution against Media Matters must stop."

But wait! There’s more. Advertisers are now saying pretty clearly now that they may just pull all their spending from news altogether.

With the Trump administration trying to fight what it considers an anti-conservative bias in corporate America, the Federal Trade Commission accepted a proposed consent order that would prohibit the companies from boycotting ad sellers based on their political or ideological viewpoints.

Under the order, advertisers can still choose where their ads run, but the agencies can't direct ad spend based on political considerations and can't rely on "exclusion lists" that are based on such viewpoints.

Given that many big advertisers don't want their ads to appear on or near politically sensitive content, the order could push them further away from news.

Longtime ad industry analyst Brian Wieser said Monday's move by the FTC fully politicizes advertising and puts already vulnerable news outlets at more risk.

"News was already in a perilous position," he said. "It is easier to avoid it altogether." He predicted other agencies would follow Omnicom and IPG's lead.

"No one wants to make themselves a target," he added.

Wieser also said that, despite the order's intent, it wouldn't necessarily help conservative publishers or platforms. With agencies reluctant to advise advertisers, brands might just stick with the big-name outlets they already know — like The New York Times.

Would you believe it gets even worse? Because it does, even for the agencies.

Rishad Tobaccowala, a former exec at Publicis Groupe and now an advisor, said agencies would lean on algorithms to make advertising decisions, ultimately undermining themselves.

"At some point, someone will say, 'Why do I have an agency?' Marketing is all about perspective. This takes away agency from agencies. This is taking stuff away from human, craft, individualism. It's only good for the Big Tech companies."

Indeed. I can’t imagine any of this passes even mild legal scrutiny, but who can even tell these days? Anyway, what a shit show for everyone but…Elon Musk.