WPP, Dentsu, and Publicis just settled with the Federal Trade Commission over allegations they worked together to block ad revenue from reaching conservative news sites. The agencies were accused of coordinating policies around misinformation that effectively blacklisted right-leaning publishers.
This matters because these three companies control a massive chunk of global ad spending. When they coordinate on which sites get monetized, they're essentially deciding which publishers survive and which don't.
The FTC's concern was collusion, not the misinformation policies themselves. The agencies allegedly worked together rather than making independent decisions about where to place ads. That kind of coordination between competitors is what antitrust law is designed to prevent.
For anyone building content businesses or working with programmatic ads, this is a reminder that brand safety policies have real consequences. They determine which sites get funded and which get starved of revenue, regardless of their actual audience size.
The settlement terms weren't disclosed in the source material, but the case highlights how ad tech decisions ripple through the entire information ecosystem. When a few companies control the money flow, their policies become de facto content moderation at scale.
