Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and American Values 2024, a political action committee supporting his campaign, filed a First Amendment and election interference lawsuit against Meta on Monday, arguing that the tech giant censored his biographical film, "Who Is Bobby Kennedy?"
Kennedy’s campaign team announced its intention to sue Meta last week, just days after the pact released the 30-minute biographical film, narrated by actor Woody Harrelson, about the independent candidate’s life.
The campaign alleged that viewers who tried to share the film on Facebook and Instagram were unable to upload the video and that parent company Meta was "inconsistent" with its reasons why.
Those who did try to upload the video, Kennedy’s campaign alleged, encountered a slew of bizarre scenarios: some were told the video was spam or linked to a "malicious" website, others were told it contained "graphic and violent content," while others were told they were in violation of "community standards."
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Kennedy’s campaign said hundreds of users posted screenshots documenting the alleged censorship. The third-party hopeful denounced the alleged censoring as a flagrant violation of the First Amendment.
"How can voters make an informed choice if they are denied basic information about a candidate’s life?" Kennedy said in a statement.
A Meta spokesperson told FOX Business that the link was "mistakenly blocked and was quickly restored once the issue was discovered."
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Tony Lyons, co-chair of American Values 2024, told FOX Business the alleged censoring amounts to "collusion" with the federal government to censor an alternative to the two top contenders for the White House: Democrat Joe Biden and Republican Donald Trump.
"The polls are showing that 70% of the American public doesn't want to vote for Biden or Trump and that people are really eager to learn about a third alternative. And the biggest block of voters that Bobby isn't polling well with are Facebook-age people, the baby boomer group," Lyons said. "And so the fact that Meta has been engaging in this sort of collusion with the federal government to censor Bobby Kennedy and to prevent him from getting through to the demographic that he has to get through to, it's just so clearly election interference. And it's also state-sponsored censorship."
Monday’s lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the North District of California. It seeks compensatory and punitive damages as well as an injunction barring Meta from continuing to interfere with the sharing and posting of the biographical film.
First Amendment Attorney Rick Jaffe, who is representing Kennedy, said the case raises "important issues about censorship of political candidates by social media giants like Meta."
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"I have no doubt this case will set a precedent as Americans increasingly rely on social media to form their opinions and values," Jaffe said in a statement.
