The Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) is a cross-industry initiative established in 2019 by the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) to help the industry address the challenge of illegal or harmful content on digital media platforms and its monetization via advertising.

GARM was set up in the wake of the Christchurch Mosque shootings in which the killer livestreamed the attack on Facebook. This followed a slew of high-profile cases where brands’ advertisements appeared next to illegal or harmful content, such as child pornography and content promoting terrorism. This included the 2017 London Times exposé entitled “Big brands fund terror through online adverts.”

How GARM benefits advertisers

GARM members have invested significant time, money and resources in building reputations and brands that consumers trust. That trust suffers when ads are placed adjacent to illegal or harmful content. GARM’s goal is, and always has been, to promote transparency and accountability in digital and social media, which in turn help drive media effectiveness.

Individual members use GARM’s resources and information about best practices to learn where their advertising investments go, and to avoid placement next to illegal or harmful content that could damage their brands’ reputation. GARM offers voluntary frameworks to help brands choose the content they want their ads to appear next to.

GARM has helped create a better media marketplace for our members – one that is safe for brands and society as a whole. For example, Data from Integral Ad Science (IAS) shows the percentage of brand media impressions against harmful content decreased from 6.2% in 2019 to 1.7% in 2023.

GARM is not involved in operational media decisions

GARM’s core focus is to provide tools to help avoid the inadvertent advertising support of demonstrable online and offline harm.

GARM is not involved in any decision-making steps relative to the measurement of content to determine level of risk or any tasks related to the categorization of content, sites or creators. Instead, individual companies may rely on third-party ratings services to deliver on these objectives.

Crucially, GARM is not involved in the decisions relating to the allocation of budgets. GARM does not interfere with a member’s decision as to whether or not to invest advertising resources on a particular website or channel. Instead, GARM focuses on creating a voluntary framework that can be used by individual advertisers to better utilize advertising resources in accordance with their own goals and values.

GARM’s voluntary tools and frameworks may be used in ways that benefit brands by creating more transparency and, ultimately, better media campaign controls.

GARM is apolitical

The GARM framework is broad and apolitical and allows individual members to determine which content is suitable for their own advertising support. GARM does not look at harmful content or content risk through a political lens, nor does it advocate doing so.

Suggestions that GARM practices may impinge on free speech are a deliberate misrepresentation of GARM’s work. GARM is not a watchdog or lobby. GARM does not participate in or advocate for boycotts of any kind.

GARM is voluntary

Membership in GARM is entirely voluntary. GARM members are free to use voluntary industry standards and implement practices and solutions in a way that makes sense for each individual member. GARM is not prescriptive and does not sanction members. GARM frameworks and tools are voluntary, intentionally broad, and individual companies are free to review, adopt, modify, or reject them, as they see fit.

GARM does not provide recommendations or rating services and therefore is not involved in individual member media investment decisions whether at a platform, site or creator level. GARM has never censured members or asked for the removal of or demonetization of content. The decision where and when to advertise will always be down to the advertiser, in collaboration with their agency partners where relevant.

GARM is assiduous in its adherence to competition rules

GARM takes adherence to competition law very seriously and integrates it into its workflow relative to all its activities and deliverables.

GARM standards are voluntary and pro-competitive, and the recent allegations by the US House Judiciary Committee against GARM for anti-competitive behaviour are unfounded.

This opinion was corroborated by Spencer Waller, Chair in Competition Law, Professor of Law and Director of the Institute of Consumer Antitrust Studies at Loyola University Chicago School of Law and a recent advisor to the Federal Trade Commission, who was called as an expert witness to testify before the July 10 House Judicial Committee hearing.

What next for GARM?

GARM’s work has helped to create an online marketplace that is safer for advertisers and society as a whole. Recent engagement with industry leaders suggests that GARM’s work remains valuable and increasingly necessary as digital media continues to develop. As such, GARM will continue to live up to its commitment to allow its members to drive more responsible marketing practices.

For more information, please contact [email protected]