Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM)

A flagship project of the World Economic Forum, ² GARM’s leadership seek to “tamp down” on content that challenges what it calls “brand safety,” ³ a concept that has been described as censorship. ^{4 5 6} The organization works to ensure that no one whom it deems as bad actors has access to advertiser funding ^{7 8} and supports artificial intelligence (AI) that can identify and block what GARM identifies as “harmful content.” ⁹ GARM also works to measure and restrict online discussion on topics it classifies as “debated sensitive social issues.” ¹⁰

In May 2023, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed records from GARM lead and co-founder Robert Rakowitz regarding GARM’s alleged efforts to eliminate disfavored content online. ¹¹

On August 8, 2024, the X (formerly Twitter) profile of Linda Yaccarino retweeted a post by the House Judiciary GOP claiming GARM would be discontinuing. The next day, the World Federation of Advertisers’ website posted a statement that GARM would be discontinuing all activities. According to the statement, “recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances.” ^{12 13}

History and Leadership

Global Alliance for Responsible Media was launched in 2019 in Cannes, France, by members of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). ^{14 15} GARM is officially chartered by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and reports to the WFA Executive Committee, which is made up of global marketers and national advertiser associations. ¹⁶

GARM’s 16 inaugural members included WFA, social media platform Facebook, technology company Google and its video subsidiary YouTube, social media company Twitter, Mobile Marketing Association, and others. ¹⁴ GARM has been a flagship project of the World Economic Forum (WEF) since at least November 2019. ¹⁷

Rob Rakowitz is the initiative lead for the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. ^{3 18} Rakowitz has said he is concerned about users being exposed to “unsafe” content online and that a lack of safety online is squandering the Internet’s capacity to educate, serve, and connect. Rakowitz has said that he does not want GARM to underwrite “questionable areas that challenge our roles in society” and that he wants to “tamp down” on the amplification, acceleration, or connectedness of online content GARM deems “unsafe.” ³

In August 2024, the World Federation of Advertisers’ website posted a statement that GARM would be discontinuing all activities. According to the statement, “recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances.” ¹²

Activities

At its launch, Global Alliance for Responsible Media was the first consortium of advertisers, agency holding companies, and media platform companies to approach challenges to the advertising industry. GARM founder Rob Rakowitz has said GARM aims to find “solutions” to improve what he calls “consumer safety” and online brand safety, ³ practices that have referred to as censorship. ^{19 5 6} Using this information, GARM seeks to ensure that no one whom it deems as bad actors have access to advertiser funding. ^{20 8}

GARM was formed in an effort for its members to collaborate actions, processes, and protocols to identify actions that can create an environment to challenge the legally undefined concepts of hate speech, disinformation, bullying and other items online. The organization has used the concept of child online safety to promote online censorship ³ and seeks to act as a forum to collaborate with providers to remove what GARM classifies as harmful content from advertiser-supported social media. ²¹

GARM is also concerned about trust on digital media and so-called “fake news.” The organization has said it wants to find engineers to create and distribute artificial intelligence (AI) that can identify and block what GARM considers as harmful content. ⁹

GARM has four different working groups: standards and definitions, adjacency standards and controls, measurement and oversight, and independent verification. ²¹

In 2022, GARM joined the Brand Safety Institute’s Brand Safety Week as a founding partner ²² and added the ambiguous concept of misinformation to online content it deems inappropriate for advertising support. ²³ GARM periodically releases an industry report measuring brand safety performance across social media platforms including Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube. ¹⁰ These reports also measure interaction on “debated sensitive social issues,” which GARM classifies as “insensitive, irresponsible and harmful treatment of debated social issues and related acts that demean a particular group or incite great conflict.”  ¹⁰

In 2021, GARM launched a measurement for digital brand safety which is used to chart progress on removing harmful content from ad-supported media. Partners in this endeavor included the World Economic Forum’s Platform for Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Sport, NBCUniversal, MSNBC, Facebook, and Google. ¹⁵ GARM has also used advertisers to push for the concept of safety of online environments towards what the group calls “sustainability of media.” ²⁴

In May 2023, U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH) subpoenaed records from GARM lead and co-founder Robert Rakowitz and WFA president Raja Rajamannar regarding GARM’s efforts to eliminate disfavored content online. ¹¹

Membership

Global Alliance for Responsible Media is a cross-industry initiative established by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to address the impacts of what GARM identifies as harmful content on digital media platforms and monetization via advertising. ¹ GARM has been a flagship project of the World Economic Forum’s Platform For Shaping the Future of Media, Entertainment and Culture. ²

Through its partnership with WEF, GARM claims to “improve the safety of digital environments, addressing harmful and misleading media while protecting consumers and brands.” GARM also uses WEF’s network to advocate for “digital safety” to create what GARM calls a healthier media ecosystem. WEF also uses GARM to aggregate solutions to major industry disruptions while driving what it identifies as social cohesion and helping companies remain accountable to its vision of a global social good. ¹⁵

Global Alliance for Responsible Media members include American Express, Association of National Advertisers, Brand Safety Institute, Coalition for Better Ads, social media company Meta (formerly Facebook), Microsoft, the Mobile Marketing Association, social media company TikTok, Trustworthy Accountability Group, social networking service Twitter, retailer Walmart, Google video platform YouTube, World Federation of Advertisers, and others. ¹⁶

GARM membership is open to advertisers, ad-tech partners, media agencies, media platforms, and industry associations. The group is also engaged with outside influence groups and consults with, Amnesty International, United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), the left-leaning Anti-Defamation League (ADL), Journalism Trust Initiative, and others. ¹⁶

Controversy

In July 2024, founder of media outlet “Daily Wire” Ben Shapiro spoke at a House Judiciary Committee hearing titled “Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media” in which he claimed GARM’s efforts were censoring conservative speech online. In his opening statement, Shapiro claimed that GARM acts like a cartel while alleging “Its members account for 90% of ad spending in the United States, almost a trillion dollars. In other words, if you’re not getting ad dollars from GARM members, it’s nearly impossible to run an ad-based business. And if you’re not following their preferred political narratives…you will not be deemed brand safe. Your business will be throttled.” ^{25 26} Shapiro also claimed that GARM’s criteria for “brand safety standards” on restricting content considered “Hate speech,” “Harassment,” “Misinformation” and “insensitive;” “irresponsible” and “harmful” treatment of “debated sensitive social issues;” ²⁵ is “highly subjective in theory. And…purely partisan in practice.” ²⁵ He further called on Congress to, “investigate the informal and perhaps formal arrangements between censorship cartels like GARM and executive branch agencies,” while claiming Congress itself must stop violating “free speech principles.” ^{25 26}