President Donald Trump’s top consumer protection and antitrust official has approved a massive $13.5 billion merger that will reshape the advertising industry, effectively putting the final nail in the coffin of coordination against outlets based on their political viewpoints.The Federal Trade Commission announced Monday morning that it has decided not to block a merger between Omnicom and IPG, two rival firms which together make up a third of the world’s “Big Six” advertising agencies. But rather than rubber stamp the deal, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson extracted a major concession: the firms have agreed to cease all coordination related to viewpoint discrimination, refrain from any coordination in the future, and submit to strict compliance mandates.Ferguson on Monday in his official statement on the decision said the firms have offered not only to cease coordination in any way that would steer advertising dollars away from publishers based on political viewpoints, but to cooperate with the FTC’s investigation into past collusion and submit to regular compliance reviews.The FTC appeared poised to block the merger based on evidence of past “anticompetitive” coordination against conservative news organizations, an issue the commission is actively investigating. Ferguson on Monday pointed the finger at the Global Alliance for Responsible Media, better known as GARM, which was disbanded in controversy after it was caught directing ad dollars away from right-of-center outlets, including The Daily Wire.“A Congressional investigation concluded that GARM banded together the most powerful firms in their industry to choke off the vital advertising revenue of those who disagreed with them,” Ferguson said in a Monday statement, adding that GARM aimed “to destroy publishers of content of which they disapproved.”“GARM was neither the beginning nor the end of harmful and potentially unlawful collusion in this industry,” Ferguson said, a reference to concerns that GARM would reconstitute itself. “Numerous other industry groups and private organizations have publicly sought to use the chokepoint of the advertising industry to effect political or ideological goals.”The conditions proposed by the companies, however, “mitigate” the FTC’s concerns about politically-motivated collusion in the future.“Today, Omnicom and IPG have committed themselves to help stop that sort of coordination in their industry,” Ferguson said. “This consent agreement will help mitigate the dangers inherent in a consolidated national advertising market.”“I hope the conditions imposed on this merger will encourage all advertising firms to adopt similar practices and thereby reduce the temptation to collude to the detriment of their customers, independent journalists, small and independent media companies, consumers, and the American public square,” he concluded.GARM came under fire in 2024 after a congressional investigation, first reported by The Daily Wire, uncovered overt political bias in the advertising coalition that was being used to keep ad dollars away from websites that weren’t deemed “brand safe.”Internal emails from ad executives involved in the coalition, which included both Omnicom and IPG, showed that The Daily Wire was put on a “High Risk exclusion list” and “categorized as Conspiracy Theories.” Other emails show that the highest ranking official derided people “advocating for freedom of speech online” and complained that the Constitution was written “by white men exclusively.”Daily Wire Editor Emeritus and co-founder Ben Shapiro testified to Congress that GARM was a “cartel,” and effectively made it impossible for conservatives to run an ad-based business.“GARM acts as a cartel,” Shapiro said. “Its members account for 90 percent of ad spending in the United States–almost $1 trillion. In other words, if you’re not getting ad dollars from GARM members, it’s nearly impossible to run an ad-based business.”The concessions by Omnicom and IPG — which, once merged, will represent the largest ad firm in the world — are a sea change for the ad industry.While individual companies are certainly still able to decide where they’d like to advertise, it has become standard practice in recent years for the industry to move in concert. Rather than making individual decisions, the industry giants created blacklists using biased third party “misinformation” services such as Newsguard. Entire business sectors would cut off access to disfavored publications based on exclusion lists that became industry standard.According to the consent decree issued by the FTC on Monday, the firms have agreed to submit annual compliance reports on the matter of coordination for the next five years, as well as spot compliance reports any time the FTC requests one.The FTC is urging publishers to alert the commission if they believe they are the “object of unlawful collusion.”The agreement also stipulates that the firms will cooperate with the FTC on all past coordination to boycott publishers based on viewpoint.“This Agreement requires Omnicom and IPG to cooperate with the Commission in any investigation relating to media-buying services,” Ferguson said, adding that “investigating and policing censorship practices that run afoul of the antitrust laws is a top priority of the Trump-Vance FTC.”It is unclear whether the other four major ad firms — Publicis, WPP, Dentsu, and Havas — will take action regarding their own practices following the change by Omnicom and IPG. The ad industry has been gathered at the Cannes Lions Festival of Creativity, where the potential merger was certainly a main topic of discussion.The public will have 30 days to submit comments to the FTC on the merger decision.
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