Overview
- The Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression filed the federal lawsuit in Washington, D.C., on Feb. 6 on NewsGuard’s behalf.
- The complaint alleges Chairman Andrew Ferguson and the FTC retaliated against NewsGuard based on perceived viewpoints.
- It challenges an FTC civil investigation launched in May that sought client lists, nearly all communications related to ratings, and financial records dating to 2018.
- The suit contests a condition tied to the Omnicom–IPG merger that would bar the combined ad firm from using third-party news-rating services, which NewsGuard says was crafted to exclude its ratings.
- NewsGuard requests an injunction to end the probe and block the merger condition, and the FTC has not publicly responded to the filing.