Signage is seen at the Federal Trade Commission headquarters in Washington, D.C., U.S., August 29, 2020. REUTERS
(Reuters) – The U.S. Federal Trade Commission is negotiating a potential settlement with several major advertising companies to resolve a probe into whether they violated federal antitrust laws by coordinating boycotts against platforms, including Elon Musk’s X, the Wall Street Journal reported on Sunday, citing people familiar with the matter.
Several advertising firms, including Dentsu, Publicis and WPP would commit not to direct clients’ advertising budgets away from media platforms based on political content that might appear on those sites, the Journal said.
However, individual advertisers would still be free to choose to avoid specific sites for their advertisements, the report added.
Reuters could not immediately verify the report. The FTC did not immediately respond to Reuters’ requests for comment.
Last year, the agency greenlit Omnicom’s $13.5 billion acquisition of rival Interpublic on the condition the new company does not enter agreements with others to steer ad dollars toward or away from publishers based on political content.
Talks between the FTC and the advertising companies are ongoing, and it remains possible that no deal will be reached, the report said.
Last year, the FTC escalated its probes into advertiser boycotts by targeting civil society watchdogs like Media Matters that had previously reported major brands had appeared next to far-right extremist posts on billionaire Elon Musk’s X social media platform.
Reporting by Ruchika Khanna in Bengaluru; Editing by Aurora Ellis
