Independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy leveled accusations of censorship against Big Tech, alleging that Facebook and Instagram blocked access to his latest political ad. The incident unfolded when a link to the new video was reportedly blocked on Sunday, May 5.
Meta, Facebook and Instagram’s parent company, said the action was a mistake. Meta said it quickly fixed the situation and noted that the link had been wrongly flagged as spam and was unblocked within hours.
Kennedy’s campaign wasted no time publicizing the incident. His team posted a TikTok compilation showing other broken or blocked links. The video, a 30-minute ad narrated by actor Woody Harrelson, portrayed Kennedy as a champion of environmental causes and good governance.
Kennedy’s skepticism on vaccinations and allegations of government overreach, highlighted in the ad, gained traction during the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2021, Meta took down his Instagram account for “repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus and vaccines.” The account was reinstated after he became a presidential candidate.
However, the campaign’s focus on censorship is just one challenge it faces. Kennedy is currently battling for ballot access in all 50 states, employing strategies such as legal action, hiring consultants and mobilizing grassroots volunteers to gather signatures for petitions. Each state presents its own hurdles with varying rules for ballot inclusion.
Recent successes in Michigan and Hawaii show some progress, but Kennedy’s campaign has accused the Democratic Party of interference to keep him off of the ballot. The party denied the accusation.
