As the 2024 presidential election gets closer, one of the things that those who are interested in free and fair elections -- mostly Republicans -- have focused on is the censorship of political content from certain candidates, mostly conservatives, by Big Tech. Americans have the right to hear from all candidates running for office to make an informed decision about who will be running the country without any sway from social media. But one presidential candidate now claims that one of the Big Tech giants has not gotten the memo about election interference.
If supporters of all candidates do not have equal access to the digital public square, then we have a democracy in name only. This censorship goes beyond restricting freedom of expression on issues and ideas. https://t.co/quPKBArsjy pic.twitter.com/GCsiIolAlh
— Robert F. Kennedy Jr (@RobertKennedyJr) May 6, 2024
On Monday, independent Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the Super PAC supporting his campaign, American Values 2024, filed a lawsuit against Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram. The suit claims Meta violated First Amendment rights and committed election interference by censoring a biographical film on Kennedy on its platforms entitled "Who Is Bobby Kennedy?" Kennedy's campaign claims that when viewers attempted to share the 30-minute video, they could not do so and that Meta was "inconsistent" about why the glitch was occurring. Even more curious, when viewers did attempt to download the video, they were met with warnings such as the video was spam or linked to a "malicious" website. Others got warnings that the video contained "graphic and violent content," or that it violated Meta's "community standards."
Kennedy, who has been a champion of free speech, claims that there are hundreds of screenshots proving that the censorship by Meta occurred. He rightly stated, "How can voters make an informed choice if they are denied basic information about a candidate’s life?" Co-chair of American Values 2024 Tony Lyons claims that Meta is colluding in the alleged censorship with the federal government, and states,
"The polls are showing that 70% of the American public doesn't want to vote for Biden or Trump and that people are really eager to learn about a third alternative. And the biggest block of voters that Bobby isn't polling well with are Facebook-age people, the baby boomer group. And so the fact that Meta has been engaging in this sort of collusion with the federal government to censor Bobby Kennedy and to prevent him from getting through to the demographic that he has to get through to, it's just so clearly election interference. And it's also state-sponsored censorship."
Kennedy's attorney in the suit, Rick Jaffe said, "I have no doubt this case will set a precedent as Americans increasingly rely on social media to form their opinions and values."
Biden now trying to censor keneddy this is democracy? Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and American Values 2024, a political action committee supporting his campaign, filed a First Amendment and election interference lawsuit against Meta on Monday, arguing that the…
— calvin sirois (@CalvinSirois) May 14, 2024
The Biden campaign, and ultimately, the federal government, seem to have had the biggest problem with Robert Kennedy Jr.'s run for the White House. While a recent New York Times/Siena College poll between Trump and Biden in key swing states is seriously bad news for Biden, when Kennedy and other third-party candidates are thrown in the mix, the results for Joe Biden are even more devastating. Democrats have been concerned about what any Kennedy influence might do to Joe Biden's re-election chances from the minute he announced he was running. Back in September of 2023, Kennedy announced his run as an independent, claiming that the Democrat party, along with the Biden campaign, had not been fair in the nominating process.
Alleged censorship collusion between Big Tech and the federal government is not the only issue Kennedy has faced. The Biden administration has refused five times to grant Secret Service protection to Kennedy, a man whose father and uncle were both assassinated. Kennedy went online to announce that another intruder had recently broken into his house. He accused Joe Biden of a "naked political calculation" in denying Secret Service to Kennedy.
As for the lawsuit against Meta, it seeks compensative and punitive damages, as well as an injunction that would prevent Meta from interfering with any posting or sharing of the video. A spokesman for the company said that the Kennedy bio video was "mistakenly blocked and was quickly restored once the issue was discovered." Sometimes free speech is a pesky thing.
Has he heard of the 2020 election? Welcome to the PARTY PAL!
— The Stupid Shall Be Punished (@stupidpunished) May 7, 2024
RFK Jr. Accuses Mark Zuckerberg‘s Meta of Election Interference for Censoring ‘Who Is Bobby Kennedy?‘ Film https://t.co/rB3TLyHUCt via @BreitbartNews
