Elon Musk picks Wichita Falls for battleground

Wichita Falls is getting some notoriety as a multibillionaire has picked the city as a legal battleground.

Elon Musk’s X Corp, the social media outlet formerly known as Twitter, has filed suit in the U.S. District Court in Wichita Falls against numerous advertisers who the company claims conspired to withhold billions of dollars in advertising money from the platform.

The lawsuit targets the Global Alliance for Responsible Media.

GARM is an initiative under the World Federation of Advertisers that works to help brands avoid advertising alongside illegal or harmful content, according to an Aug. 8 USA Today article .

GARM discontinued operation on Aug. 9.

"Garm is a small, not-for-profit initiative, and recent allegations that unfortunately misconstrue its purpose and activities have caused a distraction and significantly drained its resources and finances," the organization said in a statement.

In July, a U.S. House Judiciary Committee accused GARM of attempting to influence what content appears online by starving disfavored content, or even entire platforms, of advertising dollars.

Among those brands specifically cited in the lawsuit are CVS, Unilever, Mars and Danish renewable energy company Orsted.

X Corp claims GARM violated antitrust laws by boycotting the platform.

Musk said in a statement, “We tried peace for 2 years, now it is war.”

Why the Wichita Falls court was chosen for the fight was not immediately clear. Neither party in the suit is headquartered here.

Presiding U.S. District Judge Reed O’Conner, who offices in Fort Worth, recused himself from the case Tuesday without providing a reason.

NPR reported on Monday that O’Conner owned shares in Musk’s Tesla company.

This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Elon Musk picks Wichita Falls for battleground