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Merging firms agree to FTC demands in order to create world's largest ad agency.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson testifies during a House subcommittee hearing on oversight of the Federal Trade Commission on May 15, 2025. Credit: Getty Images | Tom Williams
The Federal Trade Commission is approving a merger of big advertising agencies after extracting an agreement that the combined firm won't lead or participate in any advertising boycotts based on political or ideological viewpoints.
The merger condition is a new strategy in the Republican-controlled FTC's fight against alleged advertising boycotts, which could help Elon Musk's X social network and President Trump's own Truth Social platform. The FTC proposal surfaced in a news report earlier this month and was made official Monday in an agency announcement.
The FTC is approving Omnicom Group's $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group. Omnicom and Interpublic "are the third- and fourth-largest media buying advertising agencies in the US" and will be the world's biggest such agency when the merger is finalized, the FTC said.
The FTC said it approved a proposed consent order to "prevent Omnicom from engaging in collusion or coordination to direct advertising away from media publishers based on the publishers' political or ideological viewpoints." This includes "a series of provisions that would eliminate Omnicom's ability to deny advertising dollars to media publishers based on their political or ideological viewpoint, except at the express and individualized direction of Omnicom's advertiser customers."
FTC chair: Policing censorship a top priority
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement that "investigating and policing censorship practices that run afoul of the antitrust laws is a top priority of the Trump-Vance FTC."
Matt Stoller, research director for the American Economic Liberties Project, said the "settlement greenlights the creation of the world's largest advertising agency with no meaningful divestitures, no safeguards for the thousands of workers about to be laid off, and no remedies to protect competition in the broader ad market. Instead, the Trump FTC has approved a merger they themselves admit is illegal."
Stoller said the deal will "effectively funnel money directly to Elon Musk and X—which has been openly extorting advertisers," a reference to Musk threatening to sue companies that don't buy ads on X. Stoller said the FTC decision "reflects lawlessness, and a pattern of blatant abuse of the FTC's authority to improve the political fortunes of big business Republicans and Big Tech."
The proposed consent order, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period, would resolve an administrative complaint filed by the FTC against Omnicom and Interpublic. The FTC complaint alleges that the merger would violate US antitrust law and Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair methods of competition.
FTC complaint mirrors Musk’s claims
The FTC complaint doesn't specifically mention Musk or X, but it focuses on an advertising industry group that X sued, specifically the World Federation of Advertisers. The FTC complaint mirrors X's claims by alleging that a federation project labeled "legitimate political speech" as "misinformation" and "demonstrates the potential for future coordination between Media Buying Services providers."
The World Federation of Advertisers denies wrongdoing in the case filed by X, but it shut down its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) project that sought to define violent and obscene content to help advertisers create brand-safety guidelines. The FTC's support of X's claims about GARM will likely discourage advertisers from participating in any similar projects in the future.
By agreeing to the FTC's demands, Omnicom avoids having to fight allegations that the merger will enable illegal coordination. Omnicom CEO John Wren said, "We are delighted that our transaction with Interpublic has cleared this significant regulatory hurdle... We continue to look forward to obtaining the remaining regulatory approvals and closing in the second half of this year."
Ferguson said that "the advertising industry has been plagued by deliberate, coordinated efforts to steer ad revenue away from certain news organizations, media outlets, and social media networks." He alleged that "industry groups and private organizations have publicly sought to use the chokepoint of the advertising industry to effect political or ideological goal."
The consent order says the merged firm must not direct advertiser spending "based on the Media Publisher's political or ideological viewpoints, or the political or ideological viewpoints expressed in content that the Media Publisher sells advertising to run alongside of." The firm must not refuse advertisers' requests to buy ads based on political or ideological disagreements with the publisher, and must not refuse to deal with advertisers "based on political or ideological viewpoints of that Advertiser."
Monitoring compliance
The consent order has a carve-out that seems to let individual advertisers make decisions to avoid certain platforms. The agreement says the limits "shall not apply to any agreement or discussion between Omnicom and an Advertiser... relating to how to direct that Advertiser's advertising spend."
Ferguson said it won't be difficult to monitor Omnicom's compliance. "Any future attempts at collusion by Omnicom and IPG are unlikely to remain hidden," he said. "Compliance reporting provisions will give the Commission insight into the merged firm's activities. Likewise, advertisement publishers have a powerful incentive to alert the Commission if they believe that they are the object of unlawful collusion."
The FTC has separately sent civil investigative demands to Omnicom, Interpublic, and other ad agencies as part of an investigation into advertising boycotts. It also sent a demand to Media Matters, a nonprofit journalism organization that Musk blamed for X's financial problems after it reported that X was placing advertisements next to pro-Nazi posts. Media Matters sued the FTC this week in an attempt to stop the investigation, saying the FTC demand "is the latest effort by Elon Musk and his allies in the Trump administration to retaliate against Media Matters for its reporting on X."
Ferguson argued at a conference in April that "the risk of an advertiser boycott is a pretty serious risk to the free exchange of ideas" but acknowledged that there is not a categorical antitrust prohibition on boycotts. "When a boycott ceases to be economic for purposes of the antitrust laws and becomes purely First Amendment activity, the courts have not been super clear—[it's] sort of a 'we know it when we see it' type of thing," Ferguson said.
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson testifies during a House subcommittee hearing on oversight of the Federal Trade Commission on May 15, 2025. Credit: Getty Images | Tom Williams
The Federal Trade Commission is approving a merger of big advertising agencies after extracting an agreement that the combined firm won't lead or participate in any advertising boycotts based on political or ideological viewpoints.
The merger condition is a new strategy in the Republican-controlled FTC's fight against alleged advertising boycotts, which could help Elon Musk's X social network and President Trump's own Truth Social platform. The FTC proposal surfaced in a news report earlier this month and was made official Monday in an agency announcement.
The FTC is approving Omnicom Group's $13.5 billion acquisition of Interpublic Group. Omnicom and Interpublic "are the third- and fourth-largest media buying advertising agencies in the US" and will be the world's biggest such agency when the merger is finalized, the FTC said.
The FTC said it approved a proposed consent order to "prevent Omnicom from engaging in collusion or coordination to direct advertising away from media publishers based on the publishers' political or ideological viewpoints." This includes "a series of provisions that would eliminate Omnicom's ability to deny advertising dollars to media publishers based on their political or ideological viewpoint, except at the express and individualized direction of Omnicom's advertiser customers."
FTC chair: Policing censorship a top priority
FTC Chairman Andrew Ferguson said in a statement that "investigating and policing censorship practices that run afoul of the antitrust laws is a top priority of the Trump-Vance FTC."
Matt Stoller, research director for the American Economic Liberties Project, said the "settlement greenlights the creation of the world's largest advertising agency with no meaningful divestitures, no safeguards for the thousands of workers about to be laid off, and no remedies to protect competition in the broader ad market. Instead, the Trump FTC has approved a merger they themselves admit is illegal."
Stoller said the deal will "effectively funnel money directly to Elon Musk and X—which has been openly extorting advertisers," a reference to Musk threatening to sue companies that don't buy ads on X. Stoller said the FTC decision "reflects lawlessness, and a pattern of blatant abuse of the FTC's authority to improve the political fortunes of big business Republicans and Big Tech."
The proposed consent order, which is subject to a 30-day public comment period, would resolve an administrative complaint filed by the FTC against Omnicom and Interpublic. The FTC complaint alleges that the merger would violate US antitrust law and Section 5 of the FTC Act, which prohibits unfair methods of competition.
FTC complaint mirrors Musk’s claims
The FTC complaint doesn't specifically mention Musk or X, but it focuses on an advertising industry group that X sued, specifically the World Federation of Advertisers. The FTC complaint mirrors X's claims by alleging that a federation project labeled "legitimate political speech" as "misinformation" and "demonstrates the potential for future coordination between Media Buying Services providers."
The World Federation of Advertisers denies wrongdoing in the case filed by X, but it shut down its Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) project that sought to define violent and obscene content to help advertisers create brand-safety guidelines. The FTC's support of X's claims about GARM will likely discourage advertisers from participating in any similar projects in the future.
By agreeing to the FTC's demands, Omnicom avoids having to fight allegations that the merger will enable illegal coordination. Omnicom CEO John Wren said, "We are delighted that our transaction with Interpublic has cleared this significant regulatory hurdle... We continue to look forward to obtaining the remaining regulatory approvals and closing in the second half of this year."
Ferguson said that "the advertising industry has been plagued by deliberate, coordinated efforts to steer ad revenue away from certain news organizations, media outlets, and social media networks." He alleged that "industry groups and private organizations have publicly sought to use the chokepoint of the advertising industry to effect political or ideological goal."
The consent order says the merged firm must not direct advertiser spending "based on the Media Publisher's political or ideological viewpoints, or the political or ideological viewpoints expressed in content that the Media Publisher sells advertising to run alongside of." The firm must not refuse advertisers' requests to buy ads based on political or ideological disagreements with the publisher, and must not refuse to deal with advertisers "based on political or ideological viewpoints of that Advertiser."
Monitoring compliance
The consent order has a carve-out that seems to let individual advertisers make decisions to avoid certain platforms. The agreement says the limits "shall not apply to any agreement or discussion between Omnicom and an Advertiser... relating to how to direct that Advertiser's advertising spend."
Ferguson said it won't be difficult to monitor Omnicom's compliance. "Any future attempts at collusion by Omnicom and IPG are unlikely to remain hidden," he said. "Compliance reporting provisions will give the Commission insight into the merged firm's activities. Likewise, advertisement publishers have a powerful incentive to alert the Commission if they believe that they are the object of unlawful collusion."
The FTC has separately sent civil investigative demands to Omnicom, Interpublic, and other ad agencies as part of an investigation into advertising boycotts. It also sent a demand to Media Matters, a nonprofit journalism organization that Musk blamed for X's financial problems after it reported that X was placing advertisements next to pro-Nazi posts. Media Matters sued the FTC this week in an attempt to stop the investigation, saying the FTC demand "is the latest effort by Elon Musk and his allies in the Trump administration to retaliate against Media Matters for its reporting on X."
Ferguson argued at a conference in April that "the risk of an advertiser boycott is a pretty serious risk to the free exchange of ideas" but acknowledged that there is not a categorical antitrust prohibition on boycotts. "When a boycott ceases to be economic for purposes of the antitrust laws and becomes purely First Amendment activity, the courts have not been super clear—[it's] sort of a 'we know it when we see it' type of thing," Ferguson said.
