FTC Commissioner Andrew Ferguson wants his agency to break up the censorship cartel that has included Big Tech online platforms and advertising agencies.

Last week, Ferguson signed on with fellow Republican FTC Commissioner Melissa Holyoak to demand a probe of efforts by online platforms to limit free speech and engage in censorship.

In his statement, Ferguson alleged that Big Tech and major ad agencies have been using so-called misinformation monitors to target conservative media. Such efforts include censorship through demonetizing the advertising revenues of right-leaning outlets.

The commissioners are seeking to revive President Donald Trump’s 2020 Executive Order 13925 which sought to prevent and limit online censorship.

But Ferguson argued last week that the FTC should investigate and possibly bring prosecution on illegal boycotts that use advertising agencies to target media outlets based on their political views.

“Shortly after Twitter (now X) was purchased by a free speech champion, major advertisers raced for the door and refused to advertise on X,” Ferguson wrote.

“Concerted refusals to deal — also known as group boycotts — are illegal under the Sherman Act,” he said.

Ferguson specifically noted that left-wing media monitor NewsGuard has been used by major advertising agencies to block the flow of advertising and revenues to conservative media.

NewsGuard, along with groups like left-leaning monitors GDI and GARM, purport to rate and rank media outlets on the basis of accuracy and “brand safety.”

NewsGuard ratings are, in turn, used by advertising agencies to block conservative media from receiving ads and “choke off the advertising dollars that are the lifeblood for many websites . . . ”

Ferguson notes the advertising agencies have essentially outsourced censorship by using NewsGuard, an organization which “goes to great lengths to create the appearance of nonpartisanship and objectivity.”

In multiple studies the Media Research Center found that NewsGuard rated conservative media outlets significantly lower than left-wing counterparts.

While noting that NewsGuard is “free to rate websites,” Ferguson argues that “antitrust laws do not permit third parties to facilitate group boycotts among competitors.”

After Trump left office in 2021, online social media platforms worked in concert with media monitors to ban “dissent on the safety of COVID-19 vaccines, the 2020 election results, and the Hunter Biden laptop story.” The president himself was banned from major platforms as well, Ferguson noted.

NewsGuard is the most notorious of the misinformation activists.

Steven Brill, a businessman and Democratic Party activist, founded NewsGuard in the wake of the 2016 election, when many on the left claimed Russian disinformation helped Donald Trump defeat Hillary Clinton in a close contest.

For decades Brill and his wife have been prolific Democrat donors, including backing Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama.

Brill made himself a national media name in the 1990s defending President Bill Clinton in the wake of the Monica Lewinsky scandal.

During the Obama presidency he became an advocate of Obamacare, and later a strong critic of Donald Trump.

Brill has used his soapbox and claims of being a “neutral” journalist to prevent stories like the one involving Hunter Biden’s laptop to be investigated. Brill called the laptop story a “hoax” when federal authorities later said it was authentic.

In recent months Brill has taken a backseat in public perhaps owing to his obvious political bias, with NewsGuard co-founder Gordon Crovitz handling most press inquiries.

Crovitz, a former Wall Street Journal publisher, describes himself as a Republican but acts more like a frontman for the left-wing organization.

Crovitz’s wife, Amy Worden, is also active in political circles and heads global initiatives for the far left Human Rights Watch. [Last week the group called for supporting the ICC’s arrest warrant of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Other Republicans who advise strong Trump critics include former CIA Director Michael Hayden and former Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

Dubbed a major player in the “censorship-industrial complex,” NewsGuard has gained the attention of the next Trump administration, which takes office next month.

Last month, Trump’s nominee to be his next FCC chair, Brendan Carr, wrote to major Big Tech companies including Apple and Google, demanding they turn over documents relating to their use of media monitors like NewsGuard.

Carr specifically asked about the relationship of the platforms with major advertising agencies that use NewsGuard.

Major advertising agencies using NewsGuard to censor conservative media include Omnicom, Interpublic, Publicis, Magnite, PubMatic, TripleLift, Comscore, Zefr, and Giphy.