U.S. President Donald Trump smiles after disembarking Marine One as he returns from Scotland, Britain, on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 29, 2025. REUTERS/Umit Bektas
Back in late February — a month after Donald Trump returned to the White House — Forrester.com posted an article headlined, "X-tortion: How Advertisers Are Losing Control of Media Choice." Forrester, in the piece, addressed advertisers' right to decide for themselves who they will and won't advertise with.
Trump is now half a year into his second presidency. Journalist Julia Angwin, in an op-ed published by the New York Times on July 30, warns that the Trump Administration "is trying to stop advertisers and brands from boycotting right-leaning businesses."
"The latest maneuver comes from the Federal Trade Commission," Angwin explains. "Last month, it announced that it would approve the merger of two of the biggest ad agencies in the world only if the parties agree to an unusual condition: The merged company cannot refuse to place ads on websites for political reasons. The move was a sharp break from its traditional practice."
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Angwin adds, "The FTC is usually focused on such concerns as consumer protection and monopoly power; now, it's trying to dictate where businesses advertise their products. While the move would theoretically affect platforms of any political persuasion, there’s little doubt that it is a thinly veiled attempt to prop up X."
The journalist points out that X, formerly Twitter, "suffered an advertiser exodus after" billionaire Tesla/SpaceX leader Elon Musk acquired the platform and "began using it to promote right-wing talking points, including antisemitism and conspiracy theories."
"In 2023," Angwin notes, "dozens of advertisers suspended their spending after two media watchdog groups, the Center for Countering Digital Hate and Media Matters, revealed how X was profiting from accounts that spread hate and misinformation and that major brands’ ads were appearing near pro-Nazi content. X responded by suing both the watchdog groups, as well as an advertising trade group and several leading advertisers it accused of illegally boycotting its business."
Angwin continues, "Then, in May, the FTC began investigating roughly a dozen advertising and advocacy groups, including Media Matters, to determine if they were engaged in a conspiracy or collusion by encouraging advertisers to boycott X and other websites. Media Matters has since sued the FTC, but in the meantime, the organization has dialed back its criticism and is considering closing in the face of steep legal fees. The FTC's recent efforts essentially bolster X’s legally dubious argument that advertisers don't have the right to freedom of expression…. Faced with the threat of having to prove they are not boycotting outlets for political reasons, advertisers may find that their best defense is to place ads in right-wing publications. "
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Julia Angwin's full New York Times op-ed is available at this link (subscription required).