Critics calls move ‘too late too little’ after group repeatedly violated policies on Covid-19 misinformation
Instagram and
Facebook have suspended a prominent anti-
vaccine group led by Robert Kennedy Jr for repeatedly violating rules prohibiting misinformation about
Covid-19.
The non-profit, Children’s Health Defense (CHD), is one of the most influential anti-
vaccine organizations active on social media, where it has spread misleading claims about
vaccines and other pandemic-related public health measures.
Kennedy, a leading anti-vaxxer, has attracted controversy for repeatedly sharing falsehoods and was himself booted from Instagram in 2021. His personal
Facebook page is still active.
Public health advocates and misinformation experts have criticized
Facebook for not acting more swiftly to contain potentially harmful misinformation about
Covid-19 and
vaccines.
“Today’s step is too late and too little,” said Karen Kornbluh, the director of the Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative, in an emailed statement reacting to the decision. She added that platforms must work to address the root cause of misinformation.
“It even leaves up RFK Jr’s public
Facebook page. In addition, both RFK Jr and CHD remain active on Twitter, showing how inadequate the Whac-A-Mole approach is to conspiracy campaigns. Instead platforms must address the algorithms and other design loopholes that allow their sites to be weaponized in the first place.”
In a statement, Kennedy compared
Facebook’s actions to government censorship, even though
Facebook is a private company that can set and enforce its own rules about misinformation.
“
Facebook is acting here as a surrogate for the federal government’s crusade to silence all criticism of draconian government policies,” Kennedy said.
Children’s Health Defense had hundreds of thousands of followers at the time of the suspension, according to a statement from the organization, which also noted that it has sued
Facebook over its moderation policies.
Facebook and Instagram confirmed the company action on Thursday in a statement to the Associated Press.
“We removed these accounts for repeatedly violating our policies,” a spokesman for Meta,
Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, told the AP. Under the platforms’ policies, suspensions are typically only enforced after multiple violations.
Several state affiliates of Children’s Health Defense remain on
Facebook and Instagram despite the ban of the national organization.