Media Matters and FTC Clash Over Preliminary Injunction Stay in Ad Probe
Media Matters and the FTC are clashing over the agency's requested stay of a preliminary injunction in a federal probe over advertiser boycotts. The U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia earlier this month granted the left-leaning journalism watchdog group a preliminary injunction against the agency's civil investigative demand (CID) in the probe (see 2508180026). The FTC last week asked the court to stay the preliminary injunction pending appeal. It told the court (docket 1:25-cv-01959) it has issued 17 CIDs to advertising trade associations, brand safety rating organizations and advocacy groups like Media Matters as it investigates whether online advertisers or ad agencies coordinated the placement of ads in ways that had certain news outlets or platforms rated not "brand suitable" or "brand safe." The preliminary injunction impedes the FTC investigation by barring it from determining whether Media Matters has any information relevant to the investigation into advertiser boycotts, the agency said.
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The FTC "correctly" acknowledges that it has a heavy burden of showing irreparable harm and likely success on the merits, and it "fail[s] to meet that burden at every step," Media Matters said last week in opposing the motion for a stay. Media Matters said it's not clear the FTC ever intended to enforce the CID, and if it decided it wanted to, any delay "would not meaningfully hinder the FTC’s broader investigation."
In a reply in support of its requested stay, the FTC said last week that Media Matters' argument that the preliminary injunction could harm the agency only if it planned to enforce the CID imminently "overlooks the basic investigative steps that must be undertaken before an enforcement action is filed, including the meet-and-confer process that the FTC undertakes in an attempt to narrow or resolve the issues in dispute."