Instagram And Facebook Block Robert Kennedy Jr's Anti-Vaccine Children's Health Defense Account

JAKARTA - Instagram and Facebook suspended accounts belonging to Children's Health Defense this week after an anti-vaccine group led by Robert Kennedy Jr. it repeatedly violates rules that prohibit misinformation about COVID-19.

A non-profit organization, Children's Health Defense is one of the most influential anti-vaccine organizations active on social media. They have spread misleading claims about vaccines and other public health measures designed to control the pandemic.

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 on misinformation.

"Facebook is acting here as a surrogate for the federal government to silence all criticism of the government's draconian policies," Kennedy said, as quoted by the Wall Street Journal.

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 had sued Facebook over its moderation policies.

Public health advocates and misinformation experts have criticized Facebook for not acting sooner to contain potentially harmful misinformation about COVID-19 and vaccines.

Karen Kornbluh, director of the Digital Innovation and Democracy Initiative at the German Marshall Fund, says too many groups like Children's Health Defense have been allowed to thrive on social media for too long. He noted that the group remains on Twitter.

"Today's move is too late and too little," Kornbluh said, adding that technology companies must address the reasons misinformation spreads so easily on social media.

Facebook and Instagram confirmed the company's actions Thursday, August 18 in a statement to The Associated Press.

"We removed this account for repeated violations of our policies," a spokesperson for Meta, parent company Facebook and Instagram, told the AP. Under platform policies, suspensions are usually only enforced after multiple violations.

Several state affiliates of the Child Health Defense remain on Facebook and Instagram despite the national organization's ban. Kennedy started Instagram last year but continues to have an active account on Facebook.