Trump Abuses FTC's Powers to Force Advertisers to Support Right-Wing Media Against Their Own Conscience

Jun 12, 2025

Having fired all the Democrats at the Federal Trade Commission, Donald Trump is now abusing its power to block or approve mergers in order to demand political compliance from big corporations. Most recently, Trump’s FTC is requiring advertisers to shunt money to conservative media as a condition of doing business.

The New York Times reports:

As the Trump administration considers approving a proposed merger between two of the world’s largest advertising agencies, Omnicom Group and Interpublic Group, regulators may impose unusual conditions.
A proposed consent decree would prevent the merged company from boycotting platforms because of their political content by refusing to place their clients’ advertisements on them, according to two people briefed on the matter. …
Andrew Ferguson, the F.T.C.’s chairman, has said the spending pullbacks amount to illegal boycotts. Advertisers say they should have the freedom to spend their money as they wish.
Some advertisers and brands have not wanted to be associated with social networks that can be a breeding ground for violent, inaccurate and politically divisive content … out of concern for what the industry calls brand safety, protecting their clients’ reputations. …
In March, a group of senators including Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Cory Booker of New Jersey wrote to the FTC and the Justice Department’s antitrust division asking for an independent evaluation of the deal, saying X could be “attempting to strike a quid-pro-quo deal” for approval of the deal in exchange for advertising dollars.

The New York Times is soft-pedaling the story. Brands stopped advertising on Twitter after Elon Musk’s policies produced a surge of racial slurs which are now typical of the platform. Trump’s FCC is compelling companies to give financial support, not just to right-leaning speech, but to virulent racism.

The Executive Watch is a project of the Institute for the Study of Modern Authoritarianism, and its flagship publication The UnPopulist, to track in an ongoing way the abuses of the power of the American presidency. It sorts these abuses into five categories: Personal Grift, Political Corruption, Presidential Retribution, Power Consolidation, and Policy Illegality. Click the category of interest to get an overview of all the abuses under it.

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