FTC investigates Media Matters for coordinating boycott campaigns against Elon Musk and X

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has requested documents from Media Matters as part of an investigation into a potential coordinated campaign to boycott Elon Musk’s brands.

Media Matters, a left-leaning social action and proxy watchdog group confirmed that it received a civil investigative demand letter from the Federal Trade Commission on Wednesday.

According to Reuters, the FTC investigation seeks information about Media Matters' communications with other activist groups. They are seeking actions by those groups for misinformation and hate speech, including an initiative by the World Federation of Advertisers called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media. X has ongoing lawsuits against both organizations.

These investigated initiatives had the end goal of getting advertisers to abandon the X social media platform in order to attack Elon Musk's revenue.

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone said Thursday that the Trump administration "has been defined by appointing right-wing media figures to key positions and abusing the power of the federal government to intimidate political opponents and silence critics."

"It's clear that's exactly what's happening here, given Media Matters' track record of holding those same figures accountable. These threats will not work; we remain steadfast in our mission," he said.

The House Judiciary Committee, chaired by Republican member Jim Jordan, last year accused the Global Alliance for Responsible Media of coordinating an illegal boycott of groups. The initiative was canceled in August.

Following Elon Musk's purchase of Twitter in October 2022, the platform experienced a notable loss of advertisers. Companies such as Coca-Cola, Unilever and Mondelez reduced or canceled their advertising investment, citing concerns about brand safety and changes in content policies.

This withdrawal of advertisers had a significant impact on the company's advertising revenue. According to reports, advertising revenue fell 46.4% between 2022 and 2023, from $4.5 billion to $2.2 billion .

Elon Musk publicly acknowledged that advertising revenue had roughly halved since his acquisition. Despite efforts to diversify revenue streams, such as the introduction of subscriptions and data sales, reliance on advertising remains predominant.

Only at the end of 2024, X reported a timid return from some of the large advertisers, which partially stabilized its accounts.