Editor of the Daily Wire Ben Shapiro informed Congress on Wednesday about an “informal pressure system” on Democratic lawmakers as two brand safety organizations and the White House push Left-wing media while suppressing conservative news outlets.

Shapiro said while testifying before the House Judiciary Committee that he feels as though there is a conspiracy against right-wing media. The Republican-controlled committee asked Shapiro to testify as part of its Collusion in the Global Alliance for Responsible Media hearing, which was held after a report accused the Global Alliance for Responsible media (GARM) strategy working with social media platforms on efforts that would lead those companies to censor conservative sites like The Daily Wire.

“We are in the midst of a trust crisis in the world of media, which is because so many in the legacy media have lied in order to preserve Left-leaning narratives,” Shapiro said in his opening statement. “To take just the most recent example, we were told by the legacy media that President Biden was just fine. For years, anyone who questioned his health and mental fitness was trafficking in ‘cheap fakes.’”

“Then President Biden went out and engaged in a full-scale mental collapse on stage in front of hundreds of millions of people. So we can see why Americans – at least Americans who are not Democrats – do not trust the media,” Shapiro added. “The question isn’t really why the legacy media have lost Americans’ trust – we know that answer. The question is why, despite that loss of trust, the legacy media continue to gain share in the advertising market.”

The Daily Wire host continued, explaining that he and others have been censored by social media companies under pressure from Democrats, the mainstream media, and the Biden White House. 

“GARM purportedly sets ‘brand safety’ standards – objective standards by which advertisers and platforms can supposedly determine just what sort of content ought to be deemed ‘safe’ for advertising,” he added. “In reality, GARM acts as a cartel. Its members account for 90 percent of ad spending in the United States — almost $1 trillion. In other words, if you’re not getting ad dollars from GARM members, it’s nearly impossible to run an ad-based business.”

Shapiro testified to lawmakers that Breitbart and Joe Rogan were facing similar coercive tactics from the White House and GARM. In theory such standards are “subjective,” he wrote, but in practice they are “entirely a matter of partisanship”—a reality The Daily Wire has experienced firsthand.

Shapiro closed by beseeching Congress to “defend the First Amendment.”

“Congress can do so in two ways,” he said. “First, Congress must investigate the informal and perhaps formal arrangements between censorship cartels like GARM and executive branch agencies – The Daily Wire has already filed a federal lawsuit against the State Department for allegedly doing just this. Second, Congress can itself stop engaging in violation of free speech principles.”