Instagram is bringing back the personal account of anti-vaccine activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who announced his bid to run in the 2024 Democratic primary earlier this year.
Kennedy’s personal account was permanently deleted from Instagram in 2021 after he repeatedly posted misinformation about COVID-19 on the social media platform. The company said in a statement at the time that it had removed the account for sharing “debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines.”
The Washington Post reports that Meta, the parent company of Facebook and Instagram, said that while Kennedy’s personal account will be reinstated, his organization will not. His anti-vaccine nonprofit, Children’s Health Defense, also had its account suspended from Instagram and Facebook last year for spreading misinformation about COVID-19.
“As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we are restoring access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, Instagram account,” a spokesperson for Instagram and Facebook parent company Meta said. in a statement to The Post.
Kennedy, who is the nephew of former President John F. Kennedy, tweeted last week that his presidential campaign has not created an Instagram account. A Meta spokesperson told The Post that the recticiton was a mistake, saying the platform “quickly fixed” the issue.
“Silencing a major political candidate is very undemocratic. Social media is the modern equivalent of the town square. How does democracy work if only a few candidates have access to it?” Kennedy Tweet at that time.
Twitter owner Elon Musk ANSWERED of Kennedy’s tweet and offered him a chance to speak with him at a Twitter Spaces livestream event, scheduled for Monday afternoon. This event comes after Musk held a similar event with presidential hopeful Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) last month to announce the governor’s presidential campaign, a launch full of technical difficulties.
The Hill has reached out to Meta to confirm Kennedy’s Instagram details have been restored.
Copyright 2023 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or distributed.
