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.

In a lengthy post to X, formerly Twitter, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) slammed President Donald Trump for breaking his campaign promises of “No more foreign wars. No more regime change. World Peace.”

Greene’s Monday morning post criticized the Trump administration for not just bombing three Iranian sites, but for changing its claims about the success of the strikes.

READ MORE: Marjorie Taylor Greene Tops List of Ultra MAGA Hardliners Pursuing Promotions — and Power

“I spent millions of my own money and TRAVELED THE ENTIRE COUNTRY campaigning for President Trump and his MAGA agenda and his promises. And Trump’s MAGA agenda included these key promises: NO MORE FOREIGN WARS. NO MORE REGIME CHANGE. WORLD PEACE. And THIS is what the people voted for,” Greene wrote. “Only 6 months in and we are back into foreign wars, regime change, and world war 3.”

I spent millions of my own money and TRAVELED THE ENTIRE COUNTRY campaigning for President Trump and his MAGA agenda and his promises.

And Trump’s MAGA agenda included these key promises:

NO MORE FOREIGN WARS.

NO MORE REGIME CHANGE.

WORLD PEACE.

And THIS is what the people…

— Marjorie Taylor Greene 🇺🇸 (@mtgreenee) June 23, 2025

“After the bombs were dropped, we were told ‘complete success’ and Iran’s nuclear capabilities were totally wiped out. Then it quickly turned to Iran’s nuclear facilities ‘partially damaged’ and now it’s ‘we don’t know where their enriched uranium is,'” she continued.

Greene’s comment about Iran’s enriched uranium refers to conflicting statements by members of the Trump administration. On Sunday, Vice President J.D. Vance said Iran still has its uranium stockpile. However, the following day, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that the strikes had “completely and totally obliterated” Iran’s nuclear sites, including its uranium stockpiles.

Though a longtime supporter of Trump, this weekend’s attack on Iran has led Greene to criticize the president for the first time. On Sunday, Greene shared a long post to X stating that she’d never known any American who was “the victim of a crime or killed by Iran,” saying the effort against Iran would be better used in the War on Drugs.

My thoughts on bombing Iran.

I don’t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl/drugs.

Almost everyone in our…

— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 22, 2025

“I’m 51 years old. I’m GenX. I’ve watched our country go to war in foreign lands for foreign causes on behalf of foreign interests for as long as I can remember. I was in 10th grade when Desert Storm started and my father before me was sent to Vietnam, another senseless foreign war. America is $37 TRILLION in debt and all of these foreign wars have cost Americans TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS of dollars that never benefited any American,” she wrote. “I’m sick of it.”

“I can easily say I support nuclear armed Israel’s right to defend themselves and also say at the same time I don’t want to fight or fund nuclear armed Israel’s wars,” she added.

Greene is not the only MAGA figure to criticize Trump’s moves against Iran. Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) said Sunday “there was no imminent threat” from Iran. In response, Trump posted to his social platform Truth Social saying that Massie “is not MAGA, even though he likes to say he is.” Trump then promised to campaign against Massie in the upcoming Republican primary. On Monday, he doubled down, re-sharing his original Truth Social post, adding “GET THIS ‘BUM’ OUT OF OFFICE, ASAP!!!”

As of this writing, Trump has not responded to Greene’s comments.

Image via Shutterstock

Following a brief jump in oil prices following the United States’ attacks on Iran, President Donald Trump called for the world to keep prices low.

Trump made the call Monday morning on his social media platform Truth Social.

“EVERYONE, KEEP OIL PRICES DOWN. I’M WATCHING! YOU’RE PLAYING RIGHT INTO THE HANDS OF THE ENEMY. DON’T DO IT!” Trump wrote.

In a follow-up post made two minutes later, he elaborated:

“To The Department of Energy: DRILL, BABY, DRILL!!! And I mean NOW!!!”

READ MORE: ‘Drill Baby Drill’: Trump Has Just One Answer When Asked How He Will Bring Food Prices Down

Oil prices did jump late Sunday night after the attack, according to the Associated Press, but had fallen by Monday morning. The jump was driven by the attack itself, but fell as investors speculated on how Iran would respond, the AP reported. While the price did fall, oil prices are still about $10 higher per barrel than they were last week.

Trump’s “Drill, Baby, Drill” refrain is a popular Republican slogan, calling for an increase in drilling for oil and gas on American soil. Advocates say this would reduce the United States’ reliance on foreign powers—like the OPEC nations—for energy. Critics point to the environmental impact, with the Center for American Progress warning that pro-drilling policies can cause more oil spills in the world’s oceans.

A “Drill, Baby, Drill” policy also has critics from the economic side. Though the industry does provide jobs, oil prices are too volatile to base an economy on, according to Ryan Cooper in The Week. Cooper and the CAP both also point out that focusing on fossil fuels undermines efforts to increase alternative energy sources like wind and solar—alternatives that could be more consistent and, unlike oil, do not run the risk of being depleted.

Trump has long railed against alternative energy sources. He famously said that wind turbines are harmful to birds. While it’s true that birds can be killed by wind turbines, experts at MIT say the number of birds killed annually from flying into turbines pales in comparison to most other causes of wild bird deaths. While turbines can be linked to between 140,000 and 679,000 bird deaths a year, cats kill between 988 million and 4 billion. Fossil fuel projects kill nearly 20 times more birds than turbines, MIT’s experts say.

Image via Reuters