Instagram immediately slapped a six-month suspension on the campaign accounts for Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. (RFK Jr.) as soon as they were created.
The Democratic presidential candidate took to Twitter to lament the immediate ban. Tagging the official Twitter account for the social media platform, he asked: "When we use our Team Kennedy email address to set up Instagram accounts, we get an automatic 180-day ban. Can anyone guess why that's happening?"
RFK Jr. also lamented how Instagram – owned by Mark Zuckerberg's Meta – hasn't reinstated his account, "which was banned years ago with more than 900,000 followers." In contrast, he thanked Twitter and its owner Elon Musk for allowing him and his campaign "to have a voice."
"To silence a major political candidate is profoundly undemocratic," said the founder and general counsel of health freedom group Children's Health Defense (CHD). "Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How can democracy function if only some candidates have access to it?" (Related: RFK Jr. warns: "There is no time in history where the people censoring speech were the good guys.")
A separate piece from the Post Millennial noted that even though RFK Jr. has his own personal Instagram account with 12,300 followers, he cannot use his campaign's official email to set up new accounts. "Your account, or activity on it, doesn’t follow Community Guidelines on account integrity and authentic identity," the platform's automated reply stated.
Writing for Liberty Daily, conservative journalist J.D. Rucker put in his two cents on the presidential candidate's predicament. He wrote: "The banhammer drops in real time for those committing wrongthink … [and] RFK Jr. learned that the hard way."
"Democrat or Republican, big candidate or small, accounts on social media 'platforms' that have not engaged in illegal actions should never be banned. In fact, nobody’s account on these 'platforms' that are given the blanket of government protection should get banned for legal speech," the editor-in-chief of the NOQ Report noted.
"If these 'platforms' decide they want to limit speech, they need to have their government protections immediately removed."
Not the first time RFK Jr. was banned on Instagram
In April, the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy announced his intent to challenge incumbent President Joe Biden as the Democratic Party's nominee. However, Big Tech seems to be coordinating against him to derail his presidential ambitions. Even before the announcement of his candidacy, RFK Jr. has been in the crosshairs of Big Tech due to his opposition to the Wuhan coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccines.
The Associated Press reported in February 2021 that Instagram banned RFK Jr. for posting misinformation about vaccine safety and COVID-19. A Meta spokesperson confirmed the suspension, explaining that his account was removed "for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about [COVID-19] or vaccines." RFK Jr. responded to his February 2021 ban in an emailed statement: "This kind of censorship is counterproductive if our objective is a safe and effective vaccine supply."
In August 2022, the New York Times reported that both Facebook and Instagram removed the main accounts of CHD. This time, Meta defended its decision to do so by accusing CHD of "repeatedly" violating the platforms' policies on medical misinformation.
The group itself confirmed the ban in an emailed newsletter, adding that the takedown was performed following a 30-day ban. CHD accused Meta and the two social media platforms under it of censorship. The health freedom group said: "Removing CHD accounts is evidence of a clearly orchestrated attempt to stop the impact we have during a time of heightened criticism of our public health institutions."
RFK Jr. also reacted to the August 2022 ban in a statement. He said: "Facebook is acting here as a surrogate for the federal government's crusade to silence all criticism of draconian government policies."
Banned.news has more stories about RFK Jr. and others being suspended on social media platforms.
Watch Robert F. Kennedy Jr. reiterating his willingness to die for Americans' right to speak during the ReAwaken America Tour below.
This video is from the Thrivetime Show channel on Brighteon.com.
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