The Federal Trade Commission is investigating whether advertisers and companies that claim to rate media fairness are illegally colluding to instigate advertiser boycotts to silence conservative media.
The FTC has sent broad inquiry letters to roughly a dozen companies, including Ad Fontes Media Group, which rates news outlets for media bias, and Media Matters for America, a left-wing outlet that serves mostly as a watchdog for conservative news.
Media Matters was sued by Elon Musk for allegedly coordinating an advertising boycott of his social media platform, X, which the company denies.
Individuals familiar with the nascent investigation say the FTC will examine whether the groups coordinated to illegally restrain trade and harm competitors in violation of the Sherman Act, the government’s main antitrust law.
A 21-page administrative subpoena known as a Civil Investigative Demand was sent to news rating company Ad Fontes and others. It compelled them to turn over detailed information about the company’s operations and relationships with other entities that rate the news. Those other companies include NewsGuard, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and Check My Ads Institute.
The Washington Times confirmed the content of the Civil Investigative Demand.
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Author: Marty Kaufmann
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