Speech foes face heat: Trump's FTC probes Media Matters, left-wing groups for possible antitrust violations

President Donald Trump's Federal Trade Commission has reportedly taken aim at leftist advertising cartels that allegedly coordinated a boycott to starve conservative media outlets and squash free speech online.

According to several reports, the FTC launched investigations into approximately a dozen media and advertising groups for potentially violating antitrust laws.

'These so-called "ratings outfits" are the left's latest attempt to silence conservatives.'

The agency's new chairman, Andrew Ferguson, previously expressed concerns about advertisers coordinating to ban certain ideas.

During an April antitrust conference, he said, "I am deeply concerned ... if advertisers either get in a room together and say, 'We're not going to do advertising next to this idea,' or they say, 'We're going to agree that this third party decides which ideas get advertisement and which don't.'"

"Drying up the advertising will dry up the idea. So the risk of an advertiser boycott is a pretty serious risk to the free exchange of ideas," he declared.

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Ferguson's concerns stem from an ongoing dispute between Media Matters and Elon Musk's X.

In 2023, X sued Media Matters for defamation, claiming the site released a report that misrepresented the user experience to push advertisers to boycott the social media platform. The report warned advertisers that their content would appear next to white supremacist hashtags, causing many to pull their ads from X.

The FTC's investigation, as reported by the New York Times, seeks to determine whether the media and advertising groups, including Media Matters and Ad Fontes Media, coordinated to prompt an advertiser boycott.

Alliance Defending Freedom legal counsel Logan Spena told Blaze News, "Antitrust laws are important tools for countering coordinated censorship. Individual businesses can decide what to say or what not to say — the First Amendment protects them too. But it does not protect coordinated conduct in restraint of trade, including trade that involves speech."

"As the Supreme Court said back in 1945, 'Freedom to publish is guaranteed by the Constitution, but freedom to combine to keep others from publishing is not,'" Spena continued. "We hope the FTC will ensure that antitrust laws are vigorously enforced to the fullest extent consistent with the Constitution."

Dan Schneider, the vice president of the Media Research Center's Free Speech America, told Blaze News that he is hopeful Ferguson's appointment will lead to positive change.

"These so-called 'ratings outfits' are the left's latest attempt to silence conservatives," Schneider stated. "They collude with and conspire against advertisers, media outlets, and advertising firms to eliminate conservative media. It's not just wrong and un-American; it is illegal. Fortunately, we finally have an FTC chairman who believes in the rule of law and is prepared to stop colluders."

The FTC declined a request for comment from the NYT.

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Adweek confirmed the Times' reporting, stating that the FTC sent the groups Civil Investigative Demand letters requiring them to turn over documents and respond to inquiries.

Ad Fontes Media CEO Vanessa Otero told the outlet, "They're requesting pretty much anything pertinent to our business since we started."

She claimed the FTC's demands were "excessive" and "overzealous."

"Businesses have rights to not advertise next to stuff they find crappy," Otero continued. "And no one is colluding with anybody about this."

Otero stated that Ad Fontes Media will comply with the agency's requests.

Media Matters confirmed to Adweek that it is currently under investigation.

Media Matters President Angelo Carusone stated, "The Trump administration has been defined by naming right-wing media figures to key posts and abusing the power of the federal government to bully political opponents and silence critics."

"It's clear that's exactly what's happening here, given Media Matters' history of holding those same figures to account. These threats won't work; we remain steadfast to our mission," Carusone added.

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