FTC moves to end ad-agency collusion on brand-safety rules

The Federal Trade Commission and eight states unveiled a proposed settlement with major ad agencies (WPP, Publicis, Dentsu) to bar them from coordinating to curb ads on platforms like X based on political content, targeting groups like GARM and critics such as NewsGuard and GDI. If approved, the order would ban cross-agency agreements that limit ad buys on publishers’ news and political content, require five years of annual compliance reports and appoint a five-year monitor. The move comes weeks after a judge dismissed a similar antitrust suit against X, underscoring renewed scrutiny of how brands police content online.