The super PAC backing independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy says it will be filing a lawsuit against Meta for censoring the newly released 30-minute documentary “Who Is Bobby Kennedy?”
In response to The Epoch Times’ request for comment, a spokesperson for Meta stated, “The link was mistakenly blocked and was quickly restored once the issue was discovered.”
The film was also labeled with a COVID-19 vaccine disclaimer and referred users to the World Health Organization’s website, AV24 said.
“In violation of the First Amendment, of civil rights laws dating back to the Civil War and of the American people’s fundamental right to a presidential election decided by voters, not by trillion-dollar corporations, Meta Platforms is brazenly censoring speech supportive of Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.,” AV23 said.
The film has been viewed over 12 million times on X, the social media platform now owned by Elon Musk who vowed to restore free speech.
Jack Dorsey, X’s former CEO when it was called Twitter, has endorsed Mr. Kennedy for president and has abandoned his role on the board of the X alternative site Bluesky after calling X “freedom technology.”
The documentary film, narrated by actor Woody Harrelson, is a biography of Mr. Kennedy aimed at providing a look into who he is as opposed to how mainstream media portray him.
It begins with Mr. Kennedy quoting from various media reports that paint him as a “mentally disturbed” conspiracy theorist instead of the environmental attorney who took on corporate malfeasance.
It shows him going after the pharmaceutical industry after meeting with mothers who believed their children were injured by vaccines.
“Right now big oil funds the Republicans, Big Tech funds the Democrats, and Big Pharma and the military contractors make sure to donate to both,” Mr. Kennedy said.
Character Assassination ‘Playbook’
Jay Carson, former advisor to President Bill Clinton and now to Mr. Kennedy, produced the film.He stated in the documentary that during campaigns, big corporations hire writers in media like him to attack those who challenge their power.
“Here is how the playbook works: First they attack you broadly and they question your facts,” he said.
“They say you’re lying and it’s ferocious. But if you keep on moving after that, they move on to character assassination. They take on who you are as a person. They dig up everything bad in your past and leak it to the press.”
If this doesn’t work, Mr. Carson said, they call their target an anti-semite and a racist.
“No two slurs in America are worse than those,” Mr. Carson said. “No slur, except crazy. Crazy, or kook, or crank, or nutjob are their mainstays. That’s their nuclear option.
“If they can get everyone to dismiss you as a wacko nutjob, everything you say is suspect and then they can get back to selling whatever thing it is you said might not be safe. And here’s the thing: It works.”
Mr. Carson later added that political speech is the most protected form of free speech.
“Silicon Valley companies blocking political ads with which they disagree while giving shifting and dissembling answers as to why they’re doing it strikes at the heart of our democracy,” Mr. Carson said.
Mr. Carson said that although infomercials have an “effective history in American politics,” Meta “made it impossible to see.”
‘Hallmark of an Oligarchy’
Tony Lyons, cofounder of AV24, called Meta’s censorship efforts a “hallmark of an oligarchy—not a democracy.”“When social media companies censor a presidential candidate, the public can’t learn what that candidate believes and what policies they would pursue if elected,” Mr. Lyons said.
“We are left with the propaganda and likes from the most powerful and corrupt groups and individuals.”
Mr. Lyons celebrated X for supporting the documentary.
“American democracy needs X,” Mr. Lyons said. “Our country was built on enabling free and open exchanges in the marketplace of ideas. Today, X is one of the only platforms upholding that vital tradition.”
