Tag: antitrust

Trump nominee for antitrust chief says anti-conservative advertising group GARM engaged in ‘collusion’

President Donald Trump DOJ’s antitrust division chief nominee Abigail Slater testified in a Senate hearing about the now-defunct trade association Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM).

President Donald Trump’s nominee to head of the Department of Justice’s antitrust division said an infamous advertising trade association that allegedly organized a boycott of conservative media engaged in a “certain amount of collusion.”

The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), an advertising trade association founded by the World Federation of Advertisers, defined itself as a “voluntary cross-industry initiative created in 2019 to address digital safety.”

The group said it was established after the Christchurch New Zealand Mosque shootings to protect brands from having their advertisements placed next to “illegal or harmful content” such as child pornography or posts supporting terrorism. The group maintained that it was “apolitical.”

WHAT IS GARM? ‘COLLUSIVE’ AD GROUP ALLEGEDLY TARGETING CONSERVATIVES FACES GRILLING FROM TOP HOUSE COMMITTEE

President Donald Trump DOJ’s antitrust division chief nominee Abigail Slater testifies in a Senate hearing. (Fox News)

However, the House Judiciary Committee issued a report accusing the organization of colluding to punish organizations it didn’t approve of politically and engaging in industry-wide advertising boycotts on politically disfavored platforms, news outlets and podcasts including Elon Musk, Joe Rogan, Spotify, Fox News, The Daily Wire and Breitbart News.

When asked by Sen. Eric Schmitt (R-Mo.) at a hearing on Wednesday if advertisers colluding to boycott a specific “conservative news site” was illegal price fixing under federal antitrust laws, the Trump DOJ’s antitrust division chief nominee Abigail Slater said she couldn’t answer a hypothetical but quickly steered the conversation toward GARM.

Missouri Sen.Eric Schmitt questioned Trump’s antitrust chief in a Senate hearing. (Fox News)

“What we’ve seen in terms of reporting and facts and evidence in from the House GARM report… what was evidence there was a pattern of conduct involving a trade association which for and on behalf of national brands and international brands selectively stopped advertising dollars or counsel companies not to send advertising dollars to certain companies,” Slater said.

CHAIR JORDAN DEMANDS ANSWERS FROM DOZENS OF MAJOR COMPANIES TIED TO SHADOWY ‘COLLUSIVE’ AD GROUP

President Trump nominated Slater to head the DOJ antitrust division. (Alex Scott/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)

“I think it’s fair to say, a certain amount of collusion went on via this trade association, and I think that pattern of conduct is is quite troubling,” she testified.

Slater claimed that GARM’s actions deprived the affected companies of 90% of U.S. ad spending.

Adidas, American Express, Bayer, BP, Carhartt, Chanel, CVS and General Motors, were all allegedly involved with GARM.

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GARM’s leader and co-founder, Rob Rakowitz, has expressed frustration with “extreme global interpretation of the US Constitution” and dismissed using “‘principles for governance’ and applying them as literal law from 230 years ago (made by white men exclusively).”

GARM shut down in 2024, citing “allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances.”

February 13, 2025
Trump admin files first antitrust action to block tech deal

Constellation Research CEO R. Ray Wang and Heritage Foundation public finance economist E.J. Antoni join Mornings with Maria to discuss their outlooks for 2025.

The Trump administration took its first antitrust action on Thursday, announcing a lawsuit to block a proposed $14 billion tech industry deal.

The U.S. Department of Justice filed suit to block Hewlett Packard Enterprise (HPE) from acquiring a rival wireless local area network (WLAN) tech provider, Juniper Networks.

According to the complaint, Juniper has grown rapidly from being a relatively small competitor in the enterprise-grade WLAN market to become one of the three largest U.S. suppliers of the technology. The DOJ contends that Juniper’s innovation has brought competitive pressures that have lowered costs for consumers – a dynamic that would be undercut if the deal were to go ahead, as HPE and market leader Cisco would control over 70% of the market.

“HPE and Juniper are successful companies. But rather than continue to compete as rivals in the WLAN marketplace, they seek to consolidate – increasing concentration in an already concentrated market,” said acting assistant attorney general Omeed Assefi of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division.

INVESTMENT BANKERS SAY TRUMP MERGERS AND ACQUISITIONS BOOM ALREADY UNDERWAY

Hewlett Packard Enterprise’s proposed $14 billion acquisition of Juniper was the subject of an antitrust lawsuit by the Trump administration’s DOJ. (AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images / Getty Images)

“The threat this merger poses is not theoretical. Vital industries in our country – including American hospitals and small businesses – rely on wireless networks to complete their missions. This proposed merger would significantly reduce competition and weaken innovation, resulting in large segments of the American economy paying more for less from wireless technology providers,” Assefi said.

Ticker Security Last Change Change %

JNPR JUNIPER NETWORKS INC. 34.74 +0.37 +1.08%

HPE HEWLETT PACKARD ENTERPRISE CO. 21.02 -0.14 -0.68%

DOJ’s complaint noted that HPE had a “mandatory training for its engineers and salespeople, to ‘beat’ Juniper when competing for contracts,” adding that HPE sales teams viewed the threat from Juniper as “dire.”

The complaint quoted one former HPE executive as telling his team that “there are no rules in a street fight” and that they should try to “kill” Juniper when competing with the firm for sales.

MERGERS THAT WERE BLOCKED OR CHALLENGED BY THE BIDEN ADMIN IN 2024

Juniper and HPE pushed back on the DOJ’s lawsuit and argued their tie-up would be beneficial for the market. (Jaque Silva/NurPhoto via Getty Images)

HPE and Juniper pushed back on the DOJ’s lawsuit to block the merger, arguing in a statement that the agency’s “analysis of this acquisition is fundamentally flawed” and vowing to “vigorously defend against the Department of Justice’s overreaching interpretation” of antitrust law.

“Consistent with the conclusions reached by all other major antitrust regulators who have reviewed the deal, this transaction brings together two complementary networking offerings and will create a networking player with the scope and scale to more effectively compete with global incumbents,” the companies wrote.

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The DOJ’s suit to block the acquisition comes as dealmakers expect the new Trump administration to take a lighter regulatory approach to scrutinizing proposed deals after the Biden administration blocked several high-profile mergers.

January 31, 2025