Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Banned From Instagram For Promoting Misinformation About COVID-19 Vaccines

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.‘s Instagram account was banned last week due to “repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” according to a Facebook spokesperson.

The spokesperson explained that Kennedy’s Facebook account has not yet been banned: “We don’t automatically disable accounts across our apps, because the accounts may post about different things on our different services.”

Recently, Facebook has been expanding efforts to stop the spread of misinformation surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines. A Facebook press release details the company’s newfound mission: “We are continuing to improve Search results on our platforms. When people search for vaccine or Covid-19 related content on Facebook, we promote relevant, authoritative results and provide third-party resources to connect people to expert information about vaccines. On Instagram, in addition to surfacing authoritative results in Search, in the coming weeks we’re making it harder to find accounts in search that discourage people from getting vaccinated.”

Article by Elizabeth Letsou