Jim Jordan backs Joe Rogan in his latest attack on free enterprise

It looks like we can add Coca-Cola (back) to the ever-changing carousel of quintessentially American companies targeted by Republicans for reprisals. 

In recent years, right-wingers have raged against the NFL, Major League Baseball, M&Ms candies, Barbie dolls, American Girl dolls, Disney and Bud Light as targets in their culture wars. Now, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan is looking to add Coca-Cola to the list for the apparent infraction of … potentially not advertising on the “Joe Rogan Experience” podcast? (Coca-Cola drew calls for a boycott from Donald Trump in 2021 because of its defense of voting rights in Georgia.)

Rogan’s podcast is quite popular among conservatives — and with conservative men, in particular — and Jordan seems to think Coca-Cola is part of some corporate conspiracy to censor Rogan by denying ad revenue to his parent company, Spotify. At least, that’s the claim the Ohio Republican makes in a letter to Coca-Cola’s CEO demanding documents from the company. Jordan’s claim is that Coca-Cola and other corporate members of an organization called the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM), which is part of the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA), may have broken antitrust laws by discouraging advertising on right-wing platforms or alongside content created by right-wingers. Jordan didn’t offer any specifics to bolster his claims but merely referred to “Evidence obtained by the Committee.” Past experience would lead us to conclude this is all part of Jordan’s hapless effort to demonstrate a widespread conspiracy by government and/or private industry to suppress conservative speech.

From the letter:

Coca-Cola’s membership in GARM places Coca-Cola in a position to use GARM’s collective power to demonetize disfavored platforms and voices. Evidence obtained by the Committee suggests that Coca-Cola used its membership to coordinate with other GARM members regarding decisions about what platforms and content creators should not receive advertising money from GARM’s members. The ability to threaten a platform or content creator with a potential withdrawal of advertising spending by GARM members can have the effect of influencing platform decision making or silencing certain viewpoints.

As you see, Jordan says this coordination is part of a plot to “demonetize” conservative voices (“demonetize” is evidently what Republicans call “choosing not to give money to our preferred media figures”).He’s demanding documents related to Coca-Cola’s involvement with GARM and the WFA, as well as documents about the three entities’ discussions of misinformation, disinformation and “disfavored content” on Spotify or Rogan’s podcast. Rogan has faced criticism for platforming far-right conspiracy theorists, particularly at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic. (As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution notes, it’s unclear whether Coca-Cola even advertises on Rogan’s podcast currently; the company didn’t respond to the AJC’s request for comment.)

Jordan is also going on a fishing expedition at energy company Orsted, an effort that resembles his probes into other corporate members of GARM over their alleged aversion to advertising on conservative-friendly platforms, such as Elon Musk-owned X. (The companies haven’t issued public statements about the matter.) So while these attacks aren’t new, their frequency is part of the problem.

Pressure can force compliance. Disinformation experts, for example, have said Jordan’s crusade has had a chilling effect on their work. And now that he has undermined the researchers, he’s putting pressure on private industries to acquiesce to conservatives’ will, too.

Jordan is acting as MAGA’s attack dog in these dubious probes of free enterprise. And the message is clear: If Republicans take full control in Washington, companies could be brought to heel if they don’t placate conservatives.