The U.S. Federal Trade Commission announced on Wednesday that it reached settlements with three of the world's largest advertising firms after investigators alleged the companies conspired to boycott online media platforms because of political content. The FTC's action targeted Dentsu, Publicis and WPP and claimed the agencies steered clients' advertising dollars away from sites and social platforms carrying viewpoints those agencies or their advisers viewed as objectionable.
According to the FTC complaint filed in federal court in Fort Worth, Texas, the alleged conduct involved efforts to promote so-called brand safety and to avoid misinformation identified by left-leaning media watchdog groups. The agency said that, through collusion, certain websites risked becoming ineligible for ad placements because they were labeled as containing "disfavored" viewpoints.
The FTC specifically cited alleged concerns about misinformation on Elon Musk's X and the conservative website Breitbart in its filing. In a statement quoted by the agency, FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said: "This unlawful collusion not only damaged our marketplace, but also distorted the marketplace of ideas by discriminating against speech and ideas that fell below the unlawfully agreed-upon floor."
Under the settlements reached on Wednesday - which were joined by eight Republican-led U.S. states - Dentsu, Publicis and GroupM, the media buying arm of WPP, are required to cease the alleged practice of setting common brand safety standards and stop using shared "exclusion lists" when placing advertisements. The settlement terms do not include any admission or denial of wrongdoing from the agencies.
The eight states that joined the FTC in the settlements are Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Montana, Nebraska, Texas, Utah and West Virginia. The FTC and the states together brought the enforcement action and implemented the settlement terms, according to the agency's announcement.
Each of the agencies issued brief public responses. Dentsu stated it is committed to operating with transparency, integrity and in compliance with the law. WPP said it remains committed to providing clients with impartial guidance on ad placements. Publicis did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
The FTC's action follows an earlier regulatory condition tied to a major industry transaction. Last June, the FTC approved Omnicom's $13.5 billion acquisition of rival Interpublic on the condition that the combined company would not conspire to direct ad spending toward or away from platforms based on political content. That merger subsequently closed in November.
The settlements mark a regulatory effort to limit coordination among major buyers of advertising inventory where such coordination could affect which publishers and platforms receive advertising revenue. The FTC's complaint and the resulting settlements constrain certain collective practices the agency viewed as anticompetitive and as influencing the marketplace for online media placements.
Summary
The FTC settled claims that Dentsu, Publicis and WPP colluded to exclude platforms from ad placements over political content. The settlements bar coordination on brand safety standards and the use of shared exclusion lists; no admission of liability was made by the agencies. Eight states joined the enforcement.