• by Wendy Davis , April 27, 2026

Elon Musk's X Corp. is appealing the dismissal of its ad-boycott suit against the World Federation of Advertisers and 10 advertisers.

The tech company, which filed a notice of appeal last week, has not yet made substantive arguments to the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals.

The move comes in a battle dating to 2024, when X alleged that the Belgian-based World Federation of Advertisers and its now defunct brand safety initiative, Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), sparked a “massive advertiser boycott” that cost the company billions in ad revenue.

Musk also sued advertisers -- energy companies Ørsted (based in Denmark) and Shell; food giants Mars, Nestle and Tyson; healthcare company CVS; pharmaceutical firm Abbott; toothpaste and personal care brand Colgate-Palmolive; toy maker Lego; and social platform Pinterest -- for allegedly conspiring with GARM to deprive X of ad dollars.

U.S. District Court Judge Jane Boyle in the Northern District of Texas dismissed the lawsuit last month, ruing that X's allegations, even if proven true, wouldn't establish an antitrust claim.

She said in the ruling that the complaint lacked allegations that the World Federation of Advertisers and others aimed to boost one of X's rivals by engaging in the supposed boycott.

Boyle added that the advertisers sued by Musk weren't alleged to have attempted to prevent other companies from advertising on X.

"The conspiring advertisers here did not attempt to force X to advertise with only GARM advertisers so that they could control the social media advertising market or any other market," she wrote. "They merely decided that they would not buy from X for their own advertising needs, notwithstanding if X sold advertising space to anyone else."

Musk sued three weeks after the Republican-led House Judiciary Committee issued a report accusing GARM of coordinating action by corporations, ad agencies and other industry groups in order to “demonetize platforms, podcasts, news outlets, and other content deemed disfavored by GARM and its members.”

That report specifically accused GARM of colluding to cut ad revenue to X after its October 2022 acquisition by Elon Musk.

The complaint alleged that between November 2022 and December 2022, at least 18 GARM-members stopped advertising on Twitter, and that “dozens” of other members “substantially reduced” their advertising.

The World Federation of Advertisers shuttered GARM in August, days after Musk filed suit.

The trade organization has repeatedly said GARM's brand safety standards were voluntary, and that members were free to accept or reject those standards.