Meta took down a Facebook page and Instagram account this week for Children’s Health Defense, an anti-vaccination organization spearheaded by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. for violating the platforms’ COVID-19 policies.
A Meta spokesperson told The Hill that the pages were removed for “repeatedly violating our policies,” specifically, COVID-19 and vaccine policies.
“The spokesperson specifically cited Meta’s COVID-19 and vaccine policies, which prohibit content that may encourage people infected with COVID-19 to attend in-person events, interfere with the administration of coronavirus vaccines and encourage people to not get vaccinated against the virus,” The Hill reported.
In a statement provided by Children’s Health Defense, Kennedy said that “Facebook is acting here as a surrogate for the Federal government’s crusade to silence all criticism of draconian government policies. Our constitutional framers recognized this peril of government censorship.
“We don’t need the First Amendment to protect popular or government approved speech. They incorporated the First Amendment specifically to protect free expression of dissenting opinions. They understood that a government that can silence its critics has license for every atrocity,” he added.
The Hill noted that one post on the Children’s Health Defense wrote that masks were ineffective in slowing the spread of COVID-19.
CHD’s website states that the organization is aimed at "exposing the fraud and corruption within the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the pharmaceutical industry."
In February 2021, Instagram took down Kennedy, Jr.’s Instagram account for posting “misinformation” about COVID-19 and the vaccine. A spokesperson for Facebook and Instagram told the Associated Press that “we removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines.”