The brewing tensions between Hollywood and major studio executives in light of the Paramount-Warner Bro. Discovery merger have escalated to a public breakout. Following Mark Ruffalo’s fierce public campaign against Paramount Skydance’s proposed $111 billion acquisition, the studio did not hold its tongue either. Paramount fired back with accusations, publicly claiming the actor had relied on particularly discriminatory tropes during his "crusade" - suddenly transforming a standard industry policy debate into a bitter, headline-grabbing feud.

Now, the actor has struck again, emphasizing his distrust of the studio, backed by reports exposing their malpractices.

On September 9, 2026, Mark Ruffalo took to his X (formerly Twitter) handle and targeted Paramount, continuing his ongoing public feud with the production house. But this time, it was not some random rant about the merger. Instead, he cited a report from Tech Dirt that detailed Paramount’s use of unfair means to fake public support for its merger with Warner Bros. Discovery.

“Paramount cannot be trusted. They just don’t act in good faith on any level,” is what he wrote in his X post, and then attached the Tech Dirt report to it.

According to the report attached to Mark Ruffalo’s X post, the actions taken by Paramount's executives to close the merger provide a rather clear picture of the type of business we are dealing with and the reasons they should not be permitted to own an even larger portion of American media. Paramount has been detected attempting to create the impression that the massive merger has greater public support than it actually does by deploying "astroturf," or a fictitious grassroots movement.

According to The Intercept, the giant media house has been using a nonprofit organization called Neighbors for Strong Communities to send text messages to Californians pleading with them to pressure California Attorney General Rob Bonta to drop his antitrust lawsuit against the company, claiming that enforcing antitrust laws would be detrimental to Californians.

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This report and Mark Ruffalo’s renewed criticism could not have come at a worse time for Paramount.

Paramount’s merger attempts with Warner Bros. have been met with tremendous resistance, and the pressure only builds on the production company. The company's recent desperate actions include accusing all deal critics, like Mark Ruffalo, of being discriminatory to certain communities, threatening to remove Paramount from California if states try to enforce U.S. antitrust laws, and running PR campaigns and press leaks that make a variety of blatantly false claims about how more media consolidation is beneficial for America.

However, their hardships do not end here. Beyond well-known figures, the Writers Guild of America and a coalition of twelve state attorneys general are opposing the deal. While authorities have voiced more general antitrust concerns, the guild's stakes include pay, residuals, and the quantity of projects that reach production. As a result, Ruffalo is not alone in wondering where this consolidation might go.

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What do you think will be the future of the Paramount-Warner Bros. merger? Do let us know in the comments.