Robert F. Kennedy Jr., the nephew of former president John F. Kennedy and son of the late senator Robert F. Kennedy, has been removed from Instagram after sharing conspiracy theories related to the coronavirus pandemic and vaccines at large.

What You Need To Know

  • Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has been removed from Instagram for sharing conspiracy theories related to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic

  • Instagram's parent company Facebook did not remove Kennedy’s page on its own platform, saying they do not automatically disable accounts across all of its apps

  • Facebook expanded its guidelines earlier this week to include more COVID-19 misinformation for which users can be removed

  • Facebook also took down several groups and pages spreading COVID hoaxes across both Facebook and Instagram

 

“We removed this account for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines,” a Facebook spokesperson wrote in a statement. Facebook is the parent company of Instagram. 

Facebook did not remove Kennedy’s page on its own platform, saying they do not automatically disable accounts across all of its apps, given that users may not post identical content on their various pages. 

But several videos on Kennedy’s Facebook page appear to push vaccine disinformation, with one in particular claiming that Bill Gates killed studies into COVID-19 treatments in order to fund his own vaccine research in order to “make us addicted to his medications.” 

It is unclear if or why this content would not count as a violation of Facebook’s policies. Spectrum News has reached out to Facebook for clarification. 

The removal of Kennedy’s Instagram page came amid another push from the social media giant to “protect people from harmful content and new types of abuse related to COVID-19 and vaccines,” according to updated guidelines released on Monday. 

The company had previously removed posts and accounts making debunked claims about coronavirus vaccines, and this week expanded its list of content for which users can be reprimanded. The new banned content includes claims that the coronavirus pandemic is manufactured or man-made; that COVID vaccines are ineffective at preventing the virus; and that vaccines are toxic and can lead to autism. 

“We will begin enforcing this policy immediately, with a particular focus on Pages, groups and accounts that violate these rules, and we’ll continue to expand our enforcement over the coming weeks,” Facebook wrote in the announcement. “Groups, Pages and accounts on Facebook and Instagram that repeatedly share these debunked claims may be removed altogether.” 

In addition to removing Kennedy Jr.’s Instagram account, Facebook also took down several groups and pages spreading COVID hoaxes across both Facebook and Instagram, including the group “No Face Masks” and the Instagram page @virusesarenotcontagious.

While the company did not specify which of Kennedy Jr.’s Instagram posts violated their guidelines, the 67-year-old was a prominent name in the anti-vaccination community long before the onset of the coronavirus pandemic. 

Kennedy Jr. runs The Children’s Health Defense, an organization which focuses on vaccines in children. Through his organization, Kennedy helped to popularize a debunked conspiracy theory that vaccines may cause autism, although repeated scientific studies in the U.S. and abroad have found no evidence linking vaccines to the developmental disorder.

More recently, Kennedy Jr. posted misinformation about COVID vaccines. In a late January post, he described COVID vaccines that are currently being administered in the U.S. as posing a potential danger, despite studies on tens of thousands of people that found no serious side effects.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.