• by Wendy Davis , April 21, 2026

The Federal Trade Commission is seeking to dismiss its appeal of an order that prohibited the agency from demanding information from the watchdog Media Matters for America.

In papers filed Monday with the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals, the FTC says its recent antitrust settlements with Dentsu, Publicis and WPP "resolved the issues" that led it to demand a host of information from Media Matters -- including data regarding its finances and newsgathering.

"Because the underlying order on appeal no longer has any legal or practical effect on the parties, this Court should dismiss the pending appeal as moot," the FTC wrote. 

The agency late last week dropped a similar demand for information from the news ratings service NewsGuard.

Media Matters plans to oppose the FTC's bid to end the litigation, writing in court papers filed Tuesday that the agency "appears to be strategically seeking to avoid an adverse decision."

The legal battle between Media Matters and the FTC began last June, when Media Matters sought a court order blocking the FTC from pursuing its "civil investigative demand" -- comparable to a subpoena.

Media Matters claimed the FTC sought the information in retaliation for a November 2023 report that ads for Apple, Bravo, IBM, Oracle and other brands were being placed next to pro-Nazi posts on Elon Musk's X. (Musk also sued Media Matters over the report; that matter is ongoing.)

In August, U.S. District Court Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in Washington, D.C. blocked the FTC from pursuing its demand for information from Media Matters, ruling that the FTC likely acted with "retaliatory animus."

The FTC appealed that order to the D.C. Circuit Court, which heard arguments on April 13, but hasn't yet issued a decision.

Numerous outside organizations including newspapers and digital rights groups backed Media Matters in the battle.

The New York Times, Associated Press, The Guardian and other news organizations argued in a friend-of-the-court brief that the FTC investigation "targets core protected press activities."

The FTC "seeks information about newsgathering and editorial processes and punishes the publication of information about a matter of public concern, threatening both the dissemination of information of public concern and the predicate processes integral to it," the media organizations wrote.