YouTube removes FOX News' RFK, Jr. interview

Here at the Kennedy Beacon, we’re following the trail of censorship of presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.

On June 28, YouTube removed an interview featuring Kennedy. The interview in question was a 26-minute FOX News conversation with Al Guart.

Why was the Fox interview taken down?

RFK, Jr.’s discussion on Fox covered topics including the candidates’ high polling numbers; policy views among Kennedy family members; the polarization in our country; the current administration’s Covid19 response, including

lockdowns that created a new class of aristocrats but crippled the middle class; and vilification of early treatments with medications like Ivermectin and Hydroxychloroquine.

Other topics included Kennedy’s call for a ceasefire, to end the war in Ukraine and his insistence that America build a strong middle class that drives the economy. He believes this is  a key metric of a successful country.

What word or phrase was offensive?

Who is the invisible hand deciding what is or is not allowed?

Since Kennedy announced his candidacy on April 19, there has been a concerted effort to shut down his ability to communicate with the American people through social networking platforms. There have also been ploys by mainstream media outlets to remove media coverage from other networks.  

This may seem surprising under the protection of the First Amendment of the U.S.Constitution, which covers not only an individual’s freedom to express what they want  to say, but also the right of the public to hear or read the words of others. Tampering with a person’s speech by removing any part of information they shared publicly would seem to directly violate that right.

In the case of YouTube, it does not. It is protected both by law and by service and community guidelines.  It is precisely why those seeking to silence anyone lean on Youtube (and other exempted social platforms) to do just that - as was confirmed on Tuesday with public disclosure in the Missouri v. Biden case: Biden administration officials were working  with government agencies and communicating with Big Tech to censor certain personalities––Kennedy among them.

A federal judge issued an injunction to stop the communication between YouTube and government officials,which may lessen the assault on Kennedy’s ability to share content with the American people. Ultimately YouTube decides. 

In February 2020, the Ninth Circuit Court ruled in Prager University v. Google that YouTube is not bound by the First Amendment; it simply provides digital space for  anyone to post content,but only once they have agreed it is subject to the company’s Terms of Service and Community Guidelines (listed on the website: https://www.youtube.com/howyoutubeworks/policies/community-guidelines/).  

YouTube reserves the right to remove or restrict content if it violates any of those terms - the interpretation of which lies with those inside the company.

Thanks to that layer of protection, removing a FOX News interview, where a serious political candidate outlines his positions on key issues and plans for his presidency, is not considered interfering with an election or silencing a political candidate. It’s simply removing material that includes content ––even one word– prohibited from being used on that platform (to which the poster agreed).

We’ll be following these cryptic and chilling acts of censorship.

Stay tuned.