RFK Jr. takes aim at Biden in lawsuit against Google and YouTube

San Francisco, California - Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is suing YouTube and its parent company Google for moderating content he posts online.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a lawsuit against YouTube and Google over alleged free speech violations.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr. launched a lawsuit against YouTube and Google over alleged free speech violations.  © Collage: IMAGO / Zoonar & REUTERS

The 69-year-old lawyer filed suit against the internet giants in a California court late Wednesday. His lawsuit claims his freedom of speech has been violated and alleges the US has taken "extraordinary steps under the leadership of Joe Biden to silence people it doesn’t want America to hear."

Kennedy is a long-shot challenger to President Biden for the Democratic party nomination in the 2024 presidential race. While he has proven popular with conspiratorial online media sources and right-wing outlets like Fox News, Kennedy has struggled to gain favor with Democrats and even earned criticism from his famous political family. A recent poll shows him trailing Biden by as much as 60 points.

The son of assassinated 1968 presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy, Kennedy Jr. is a critic of vaccines, including those used to curb the coronavirus pandemic that's killed more than a million Americans since 2020.

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His complaint claims YouTube frequently blocks content posted by Kennedy on the grounds of "medical misinformation" policies.

"On information and belief, it did so based on statements from the Biden administration about what information to censor," Kennedy's complaint alleges.

RFK Jr.'s long line of controversial statements

RFK Jr. holds extreme views on Covid-19 and vaccination, which have regularly gotten him in trouble with social media moderation.
RFK Jr. holds extreme views on Covid-19 and vaccination, which have regularly gotten him in trouble with social media moderation.  © REUTERS

Kennedy's legal team is complaining that content taken offline sometimes comes from their client's 2024 presidential campaign and worries the problem will worsen as primary elections draw nearer.

Among Kennedy's many controversies was a dinner last month, when he made claims about Covid-19 that strayed into antisemitism.

"Covid-19 is targeted to attack Caucasians and Black people," he asserted. "The races that are most immune to Covid-19 are Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese."

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Kennedy later tweeted his comments were being taken out of context and he never implied "the ethnic effect was deliberately engineered."

A Google spokesperson told the Daily News that the Team Kennedy YouTube channel has over 46,000 subscribers and over one million views across its videos, which are held to the same standard as those of other platform users.

"YouTube applies its Community Guidelines independently, transparently, and consistently, regardless of political viewpoint," the spokesperson said. "These claims are meritless and we look forward to refuting them."

Cover photo: Collage: IMAGO / Zoonar & REUTERS

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