A global advertising association said it is suspending the operations of a unit focused on brand safety two days after Elon Musk’s social media company, X, sued the group, alleging it organized an illegal ad boycott.

The World Federation of Advertisers, or WFA, confirmed Thursday that it would halt its nonprofit initiative Global Alliance for Responsible Media. GARM was started in 2019 in part to help advertisers avoid having their promotions show up alongside content they deem harmful.

Business Insider first reported that GARM was being shuttered.

Elon Musk’s X sued a coalition of advertisers leading a boycott against the social platform, accusing the group of conspiring to “collectively withhold billions of dollars in advertising revenue.” 

The suit takes aim at the World Federation of Advertisers and its initiative called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), which led a boycott against the platform formerly known as Twitter after it was acquired by Musk in 2022. 

A post shared on Instagram claims BBC reported that Starbucks founder Howard Schultz has warned that the company has reached a “critical point of decline” amid boycotts. 

Verdict: False 

There is no evidence that BBC reported on this or that Schultz made this statement. A Starbucks spokesperson confirmed that the post is false in an email to Check Your Fact.

Target will no longer sell its Pride Month collection in all stores after conservative blowback over LGBTQ+ themed merchandise, including bathing suits designed for transgender people, harmed sales. 

The retailer told USA TODAY the collection will be available on its website and in “select stores” depending on “historical sales performance.”

Target – which has a decade-long track record of featuring LGBTQ+ merchandise during Pride Month – was one of the corporations assailed for “rainbow capitalism” last June during Pride Month. 

Target is once again in hot water over its handling of its LGBTQ+ merchandise.

The company announced Thursday that it will only offer its Pride Month collection online and in select stores. The move comes after Target faced criticism and calls for boycotts from conservatives last year over its related merchandise during Pride celebrations and into the holiday season.

Target announced Thursday that it will only sell its LGBT “Pride” collection online and at select stores in 2024 following backlash over the collection in 2023.

Target assured customers that the retailer continues to “support and celebrate the LGBTQIA+ community” in a company fact sheet. Only later was it mentioned that the availability of products themed around sexual orientations and gender identities would be limited based on “customer feedback” and “historical sales performance.”

Alaska Gov. Mike Dunleavy issued a far-reaching administrative order on Monday that calls for public agencies to stop doing business with companies that support an economic boycott of Israel.

Starbucks’s value is down billions of dollars. People online are calling for a boycott of Starbucks. The extent to which these two things are related, if they are at all, is not clear.

One thing is true here: The Seattle-based coffee company is not having a bang-up time heading into the end of the year. Its share price has seen a sharp decline since mid-November, falling by about 9 percent, meaning a decline of some $11 billion in its market cap.

“The US was founded on stolen Indigenous land. This year, let’s commit to returning it,” the company’s post read.

Ice cream powerhouse Ben & Jerry’s blew up the internet on the Fourth of July with a social media post that many critics claimed was contradictory and unpatriotic.

On the morning of July 4, Ben & Jerry’s recognized the holiday with a tweet.