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FTC Blocks Advertising Company From Boycotting Media Outlets Based on Political Views

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The Federal Trade Commission announced a strange condition of the merger between two giant advertising companies. The FTC allowed the merger, but blocked the new company from being able to boycott media outlets based on political viewpoints.

The FTC announced Monday that Omnicom Group would be able to go ahead with its $13.5 billion purchase of The Interpublic Group of Companies. The merger faced antitrust concerns as the two companies are major players in the advertising industry. Currently, Omnicom is the third-largest ad agency in the United States, and IPG is fourth-largest.

Assuming the acquisition continues as planned, the enlarged Omnicom would be blocked from “engaging in collusion or coordination to direct advertising away from media publishers based on the publishers’ political or ideological viewpoints,” the FTC said.

READ MORE: Right Wing Lobbying Organization Pushing States to Shield Companies From Political Boycotts

“Websites and other publications that rely on advertising are critical to the flow of our nation’s commerce and communication,” Daniel Guarnera, Director of the FTC’s Bureau of Competition, said. “Coordination among advertising agencies to suppress advertising spending on publications with disfavored political or ideological viewpoints threatens to distort not only competition between ad agencies, but also public discussion and debate. The FTC’s action today prevents unlawful coordination that targets specific political or ideological viewpoints while preserving individual advertisers’ ability to choose where their ads are placed.”

The new rule comes after Elon Musk, the owner of the social media platform X, formerly Twitter, complained that advertisers were boycotting the platform. Last August, X filed an antitrust lawsuit against the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, a coalition of advertisers, for boycotting X following Musk’s purchase of the company. Founding members of GARM include both Omnicom and IPG.

GARM was originally formed in response to the mass shooting in a Christchurch, New Zealand mosque by a white supremacist. The shooting was livestreamed on Facebook, and as such, advertisements appeared on the platform alongside the livestream. GARM aimed to block members’ advertisements from appearing on platforms that didn’t have safeguards prohibiting what the organization called “illegal or harmful content, such as promoting terrorism or child pornography.”

Days after the X lawsuit, GARM disbanded.

“GARM has disbanded under a cloud of litigation and congressional investigation. The Commission has not been a party to those actions, and I take no position on any possible violation of the antitrust laws by GARM. The factual allegations, however, if true, paint a troubling picture of a history of coordination—that the group sought to marshal its members into collective boycotts to destroy publishers of content of which they disapproved,” FTC Chairman Andrew N. Ferguson said Monday.

“GARM was neither the beginning nor the end of harmful and potentially unlawful collusion in this industry. Numerous other industry groups and private organizations have publicly sought to use the chokepoint of the advertising industry to effect political or ideological goals. Clandestine pressure campaigns and private dealings among these parties are less well documented but pose the serious risk of harm and illegality,” he added.

The proviso to the Omnicom merger is not the FTC’s only foray into this issue. This May, the FTC opened an investigation to determine whether or not advertisers coming together in agreement to not buy ads on certain websites due to political content constituted an illegal boycott, according to the New York Times.

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Watch: Trump Responds to Weinstein Verdict by Saying Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton ‘Loved Him’

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February 25, 2020

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President Donald Trump responded to the Harvey Weinstein trial verdict by saying Michelle Obama and Hillary Clinton “loved” the disgraced movie producer who was convicted of rape and sexual assault Monday.

Asked if he thought “justice was served in the Harvey Weinstein case?” Trump immediately made the question about himself.

“So I was never a fan of Harvey Weinstein, as you know – in fact he said he was going to work hard to defeat me in the election. How did that work out, by the way, I’m trying to figure that out,” Trump told a reporter.

“He was a person I didn’t like,” the president continued. “I knew him a little bit but not very well.”

“I knew him because he was in New York. Not a person I liked. I will say the people that liked him were the Democrats. Michelle Obama loved him. Loved him. Hillary Clinton loved him. And he gave tremendous money to the Democrats and my question is, will the Democrats be asking for that money back?”

When pressed for an answer to the question by another reporter, Trump said the conviction was “a great thing. It was a great victory and sends a very strong message. Very, very strong message.”

Trump himself has been accused of sexual misconduct, assault, and rape by at least two dozen women.

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Trump Tries to Discredit John Bolton in Twitter Tantrum, Gets Destroyed: ‘You Should Fire the Moron Who Hired’ Him

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January 29, 2020

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President Donald Trump is now trying to discredit his former National Security Advisor, Ambassador John Bolton, who has information on Trump so damning it could be the end of his presidency.

In a Twitter tantrum Trump attacked Bolton Wednesday morning, curiously not by name – presumably after reports said he had waived executive privilege previously by attacking Bolton.

It did not go well for the president, in large part because despite his war-mongering policies, Bolton is seen as tremendously credible by Republicans and Democrats alike.

But more so because, as so many point out, Trump hired him.

Trump has the worst hiring record of any president in history. He frequently hires incompetent people, dishonest people, and too many of them have ended up arrested, charged, convicted, and jailed.

As many on social media point out, Trump’s claim he only hires “the best people” is a total fraud.

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Trump Explodes When White House Staff Doesn’t Transfer Putin’s Call to Him

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January 2, 2020

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A new book is out called Trump and His Generals: The Cost of Chaos and it’s certainly living up to its name. Specifically, there was an outburst on January 27, 2017 that reportedly occurred in the middle of a meeting between Trump and then-British Prime Minister Theresa May.

During their meeting, May asked Trump whether or not he’d made contact with Vladimir Putin. As Trump was answering with a solid “no,”  former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn corrected him.

“Sir, we’re arranging that call now,” Flynn said. “President Putin called several days ago, but we haven’t been able to get it on your calendar yet.”

To which Trump erupted, “Are you kidding me? Vladimir Putin tried to call me, and you didn’t put him through? What the hell were you thinking?”

And it didn’t stop there.

“Well, sir, you know, you have a lot of calls coming in, and we’re trying to manage who you talk to,” said Flynn.

The book advances to recall that Trump blasted White House staff with temper tantrums months later.

“What kind of bullsh*t is this? How is it possible that Putin calls me and you don’t put the call through? I don’t know what you guys are doing,” he said, adding that Putin is “the only man on earth who can destroy us.”

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