Elon Musk's legal battle against an advertiser boycott of X ends with a settlement, leaving GARM inactive and the WFA aligning with X on brand safety and free speech, while Musk launches X Money to reduce advertiser reliance.
<p>Elon Musk has settled his lawsuit with advertisers that he once claimed should be <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/07/elon-musk-calls-for-criminal-prosecution-of-x-ad-boycott-perpetrators/">criminally prosecuted</a> for refusing to advertise on his social media platform, X.</p>
<p>In a <a href="https://wfanet.org/knowledge/item/2026/07/29/wfa-and-x-settle-over-garm-litigation">joint statement</a> that reveals little about the deal, the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and X said that they were “putting the litigation involving the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) behind them.”</p>
<p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2024/08/elon-musk-declares-it-is-war-on-ad-industry-as-x-sues-over-illegal-boycott/">X sued the WFA</a> in 2024, shortly after a series of brands boycotting X <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/12/stop-comparing-xs-dismal-ad-sales-to-twitters-past-success-x-exec-says/">caused the platform's revenue to drop by $1.5 billion</a> by the end of 2023. Musk became upset, declaring “it is war” on X about eight months after <a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/elon-musk-on-x-antisemitism-controversy-dont-advertise-go-f-yourself/">he told advertisers</a> who refused to buy X ads to “go fuck yourself.”</p><p><a href="https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/musk-went-to-war-sought-jail-time-for-x-ad-boycotts-but-case-ends-with-a-whimper/">Read full article</a></p>
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# Musk went to “war,” sought jail time for X ad boycotts—but case ends with a whimper
Source: [https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/musk-went-to-war-sought-jail-time-for-x-ad-boycotts-but-case-ends-with-a-whimper/](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/musk-went-to-war-sought-jail-time-for-x-ad-boycotts-but-case-ends-with-a-whimper/)
The joint statement confirmed that GARM will remain inactive as a result of the WFA’s settlement with X\. No other concessions were discussed\.
The rest of the statement claims that the settlement “resets the relationship between the two organizations,” which are now supposedly “fully aligned in the view that brands, platforms, and consumers will all benefit from brand\-safety innovation\.”
Additionally, the WFA said it is aligned with X on “its commitment to freedom of speech,” which seems to be a nod to the controversial reports on X content that Musk said triggered his “war” with advertisers\. Those reports found that as[hateful content was increasing on the platform](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/08/hate-speech-researchers-sued-by-x-accuse-musk-of-being-an-authoritarian/),[X ad controls weren’t working](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/11/hate-speech-group-calls-musk-thin-skinned-tyrant-amid-x-advertiser-fallout/)to stop big brands’ ads from appearing next to posts touting Hitler and the Nazi Party\.
It’s unclear why advertisers settled, since a court ruled in March that the[ad boycott was perfectly legal](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/03/elon-musk-loses-big-in-court-x-boycott-perfectly-legal/)and X’s antitrust claims fell apart without proof of consumer harm\. The next month, X appealed, but it appeared to be dragging its feet in filing a brief as an appellant, asking the court for an extension until August\.
Perhaps settlement negotiations were already underway\.
For Musk, the settlement comes shortly after the launch of X Money, a payments product offered through his social media platform that he hopes will help X be less reliant on advertisers for revenue\.
Whether X Money can succeed at the scale required to meaningfully rival X’s advertising business will likely depend on X removing barriers to adoption\. Those include the possibility that[X Money transactions could be declined](https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/07/elon-musk-finally-launches-x-money-what-could-possibly-go-wrong/)if an automated support error mistakenly suspends a user’s X account without warning\. There’s also the simpler problem that X Money isn’t available in all 50 states\.
The trial between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over OpenAI's for-profit conversion ended with little result, as the jury dismissed the case due to statute of limitations, highlighting personal drama rather than substantive legal issues.
The jury in the Musk v. Altman trial unanimously dismissed all charges due to the statute of limitations, ruling against Elon Musk's claims that OpenAI breached its charitable trust and that Microsoft aided in the breach.
Elon Musk is petitioning the FTC to set aside a 20-year data-privacy consent order imposed on Twitter, arguing that the platform no longer exists after X merged into xAI and then into SpaceX. Critics and public commenters are urging the FTC to reject Musk's attempt to escape ongoing audits and compliance requirements.
Elon Musk's lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI was dismissed by a jury on statute of limitations grounds, finding that any harms occurred before the filing deadline. This removes a major threat to OpenAI ahead of its reported IPO.