Rob Rakowitz, the leader of a global advertising cabal, has frequently spoken out in favor of censoring right-leaning media outlets and hosts to “safeguard democracy,” according to his social media posts and a congressional probe.
The 40-something ad exec — who has complained that the US Constitution was written “by white men exclusively” and questioned the Second Amendment — co-founded the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) five years ago as part of an initiative by the World Federation of Advertisers.
His woke ideology has led to intense scrutiny during a House Judiciary Committee hearing this week for allegedly targeting platforms that include Elon Musk’s X, Spotify, the Daily Wire and Fox News..
The group includes some of the world’s biggest companies — such as Disney, Coca Cola and Hershey — that account for roughly 90% of all global advertising spending, totaling nearly $1 trillion per year.
An avid cyclist who graduated from the University of Albany in 1998, Rakowitz pressured Spotify over Joe Rogan’s popular podcasts when the host claimed that young, healthy people didn’t need a COVID vaccine, according to emails from a House interim staff report.
He wrote an email to Spotify that GARM was “gravely concerned about a lack of fundamental policies and decision making at your platform,” the congressional report found.
“This is a statement backed by the Steer Team – which you will recall functions as a board of directors and brings together P&G, Unilever, Mars, Diageo, 4As, GroupM, ISBA, ANA.”
In a follow-up email to GARM officials, Rakowitz admitted that the emails sent to Spotify about Rogan “gets us into hot water by way of anticompetitive and collusive behaviors.”
The House report, compiled ahead of Wednesday’s hearing, also included accusations that Rakowitz “organizing a boycott or recommending that GARM members stop advertising on Twitter.”.
He denied the claim to investigators.
However, in an internal email dated Feb. 9, 2023, Rakowitz appeared to brag that Twitter, which was rebranded to X by Musk, was “80% below revenue forecasts” since GARM challenged the mogul on brand safety issues, the probe found.
Rakowitz had gone after Twitter even under its previous ownership.
Two days after the Jan. 6, riot at the Capitol, which prompted tech companies to ban social media accounts of then-President Donald Trump and others, Rakowitz tweeted: “While we applaud deplatforming the real risk remains private ideological funding of encrypted messaging apps out of the reach of regulators — need to play the long game.”
Rakowitz’s attack on the Constitution included an email in which he wrote: “Most people would agree that right to bear arms needs moderation,” according to the House report.
His far-left advocacy has led to GARM being accused of conspiring to steer advertising dollars to media outlets that were deemed to be “legitimate news” while denying funds to so-called “disinformation sites” as determined by Democrat-friendly organizations such as Global Disinformation Index and NewsGuard.
In 2022, GDI conducted a study which listed the most “riskiest sites” online including the New York Post, Reason Magazine, RealClearPolitics, Daily Wire, TheBlaze, The American Conservative and The Federalist.
The Post has sought comment from Rakowitz.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
