Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made censorship — specifically, the government, news media and technology platforms he claims are trying to suppress his message — a cornerstone of his independent presidential campaign. There is.
Mr. Kennedy had more fodder for discussion last weekend when Facebook and Instagram blocked links to a new, well-crafted 30-minute ad supporting his candidacy. The link appears to have been blocked from late Friday afternoon until around noon Saturday.
Mehta, who owns both platforms, said the episode was a mistake. Meta spokesman Andy Stone said the link had been mistakenly marked as spam. “It was blocked in error, but it was fixed within hours,” Stone said after the issue was discovered.
Tony Lyons, founder of American Values 2024, the super PAC that paid for the ad, took Mehta to federal court, accusing the group of censorship and violating First Amendment free speech rights. He said he plans to press charges.
“When social media companies censor presidential candidates, the public cannot know what that candidate actually believes or what policies he or she will pursue if elected,” Lyons said. “We are left with propaganda and lies from some of the most powerful and most corrupt groups and individuals.”
The ad, narrated by actor Woody Harrelson and in the form of an infomercial, features Jay Carson, an unofficial Kennedy adviser, Hollywood screenwriter and former Hillary Clinton aide. Produced.
The ad aims to introduce Mr. Kennedy to a wide audience, promoting a clean environment, free from the corporate influence he claims is corrupting the major political parties and endangering the health of Americans. It portrays Kennedy as a campaigner for good government and American values.
The ad also attempts to counter criticism of Mr. Kennedy in a light-hearted manner. The article reads aloud press clippings that describe him as “visibly upset,” “very crazy,” “a walking talking conspiracy theory” and “a humorless bully.” start from.
After the video was published on Friday, Instagram and Facebook users violated the platforms' terms of service, according to screenshots shared with The New York Times and screenshots posted online by The New York Times. People started reporting that posts containing the link had been removed because it appeared to be doing so. supporter And the campaign.
On Saturday, the campaign released a TikTok with a collection of error messages. The campaign also sent fundraising emails to supporters urging them to document alleged “election interference.” In a Facebook post that afternoon, Kennedy called the ad “the Bobby Kennedy video Facebook doesn't want you to see.”
The ad traces Mr. Kennedy's evolution as the scion of a storied American political dynasty and describes his battle with heroin addiction since beginning his legal career more than 40 years ago.
He says sobriety led him back to the outdoors and propelled him into a career as an environmental lawyer.
The job initially brought him acclaim, earning him well-paid speeches, glossy magazine spreads, and photo shoots with celebrities like Oprah Winfrey and Julia Roberts. But then, as detailed in the ad, he began to draw attention to theories about the dangers of childhood vaccinations, and major news outlets that once praised him now I realized that I was painting myself as a dangerous purveyor of conspiracy theories.
The ad featured Mr. Kennedy's physical fitness, with Mr. Harrelson at one point saying, “He can do 25 pull-ups at once. He can do three.” Although Mr. Harrelson doesn't appear in the ad, his voice is unmistakable. (“We need to rock the boat,” he said elsewhere, “because the system needs a fundamental rethinking, not just last-minute tweaks.”)
Kennedy's wife, actress Cheryl Hines, is interviewed in the ad, and Twitter founder Jack Dorsey also appears briefly to praise Kennedy. (Lyons, founder of American Values, noted that the social media site X, which became Twitter after tech entrepreneur Elon Musk bought it, does not block access to ads.)Lyons praised the site as “one of the only platforms dedicated to free speech”.
Kennedy's skepticism about vaccinations (including disproven claims linking some childhood vaccines to autism) and his claims of government overreach have led to platforms like Instagram, Facebook and YouTube It gained a wider audience during the coronavirus pandemic, despite deactivating its account and other platforms on which it advertised. What the company called medical misinformation.
In the ad, he explains his position on the novel coronavirus disease (Covid-19): We also felt that the lockdown was likely to do more harm than good, especially for small businesses and children. But when I brought such discussions public, I was silenced. ”
Kennedy's social media accounts were reactivated last year after he became a presidential candidate.