RFK Jr. Sues Google, YouTube Over Censorship

Democratic presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has filed a lawsuit in opposition to Google and YouTube, who he claims are ‘state actors’ who’ve violated his free speech.

Kennedy, who’s campaigning in opposition to President Joe Biden for the Democratic occasion nomination stated in a 27-page complaint that the websites caved to strain from the Biden administration, and that his movies about Covid vaccines had been being censored by means of “overt and covert” means.

“Under these circumstances, YouTube is a state actor and it violated Mr Kennedy’s First Amendment rights by engaging in viewpoint discrimination,” reads the submitting. “This complaint concerns the freedom of speech and the extraordinary steps the United States government has taken under the leadership of Joe Biden to silence people it does not want Americans to hear.”

The lawsuit factors to a number of situations of the websites eradicating Kennedy’s speeches and interviews, together with one with Joe Rogan, and a March speech he gave to the New Hampshire Institute of Politics.

“Unlike other tech companies — notably Facebook and Instagram (both owned by Facebook parent Meta) and Twitter (now owned by Elon Musk) — YouTube has not treated Mr Kennedy differently now that he is a political candidate,” the swimsuit states.

Presidential candidate @RobertKennedyJr is suing Google/YouTube over alleged censorship of his views pic.twitter.com/SN8iJ3BaqL

— Seamus Hughes (@SeamusHughes) August 3, 2023

“Although it cited its own COVID vaccine misinformation policies when censoring Mr. Kennedy, the policies rely entirely on government officials to decide what information gets censored,” reads the grievance. “They say that YouTube does not allow people to say anything ‘that contradicts local health authorities’ (LHA) or the World Health Organization’s (WHO) medical information about COVID-19.'”

According to the grievance, whereas different social media firms have stopped suppressing Kennedy since he declared his candidacy, YouTube has continued to silence him. “This censorship campaign prevents Mr. Kennedy’s message from reaching millions of voters. It also makes it harder for groups that are supporting his campaign to amplify his message through public sources.”

Last month, the 69-year-old advised the GOP’s House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government that he is being censored by a cabal of “big government, big tech and big media.”

In response, Google advised The Independent: “YouTube applies its Community Guidelines independently, transparently, and consistently, regardless of political viewpoint.

“These claims are meritless and we look ahead to refuting them.”

Kennedy also filed a class action lawsuit against Biden and the US Government in March for attempting to induce Facebook, Google and Twitter to “censor constitutionally protected speech.”