Paramount Deploys Fake Grassroots Group to Kill California Merger Suit

Paramount has been caught running an astroturf campaign to manufacture public support for its $111 billion merger with Warner Bros. According to The Intercept, a nonprofit called Neighbors for Strong Communities blasted text messages to California residents urging them to pressure state Attorney General Rob Bonta into dropping his antitrust suit. The messages leaned on a claim that Bonta’s opposition would cost the state thousands of jobs — citing David Ellison’s reported threat to relocate Paramount to Texas if the deal is blocked.

The organization carries every hallmark of a corporate front. The Committee For The First Amendment notes its website is under three months old, lists no founders, staff, or funders, is absent from ProPublica’s nonprofit database, and registers its address to a UPS store PO box in Santa Monica. Critics point out the merger’s own economics undercut the jobs argument: deals of this kind, especially involving Warner Bros., have historically triggered mass layoffs, higher prices, and cost-cutting to service acquisition debt, and nothing would stop Ellison from offshoring production regardless.

The episode fits a broader pattern of aggressive tactics from Paramount leadership, including branding deal critics as antisemitic and coordinating PR pushes with political allies. Because astroturf outfits are engineered to leave no paper trail, Paramount can plausibly deny orchestrating the effort — which is precisely the point. The tactic matters beyond this one deal: it’s a case study in how well-funded interests fabricate the appearance of grassroots consensus to sway antitrust enforcement and regulators.