The FTC and several U.S. states concluded that WPP, Publicis, and Dentsu illegally colluded since 2018 to implement shared brand safety standards that effectively directed advertiser budgets away from conservative media platforms, with the three holding companies agreeing to an order prohibiting them from coordinating on ad spend restrictions based on perceived political viewpoints. The action follows a similar consent order applied to Omnicom as a condition of its $13.5B acquisition of IPG last year, and stems from a 2024 congressional investigation that found members of the now-defunct Global Alliance for Responsible Media colluded to withhold ad spend from outlets including Fox News, The Daily Wire, and Breitbart. NewsGuard, one of the media rating firms caught up in the broader FTC probe, pushed back saying its ratings are based on non-partisan journalistic standards and that the FTC is “simply responding to the lobbying of Newsmax.”
