A federal judge has rejected a request from presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for an order that would block Google from censoring him.
Google and its subsidiary, YouTube, have removed multiple videos of Mr. Kennedy in recent months because they allegedly contained medical misinformation.
The removals violate Mr. Kennedy’s First Amendment rights because they were spurred by government policy, Mr. Kennedy’s lawyers said in a motion for a temporary restraining order.
Evidence from another case has shown that government officials regularly collaborated with Big Tech companies such as Google to censor users, and YouTube’s policy is that information contradicting U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) guidance will be censored.
Google “is using a policy that it developed in connection with (and in response to demands from) the incumbent government to silence one of the government’s most prominent critics,” Mr. Kennedy’s motion stated.
The order would have blocked Google from using its misinformation policies to remove videos of Mr. Kennedy from YouTube until a trial is held.
Google said in response that it is separate from the government and that it has been exercising its own discretion in removing videos.
“The First Amendment protects Google’s judgment that it will not help spread dangerous anti-vaxx propaganda,” Google lawyers said.
U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson on Aug. 23 sided with Google.
“Plaintiff has not shown that the government so ‘insinuated itself into a position of interdependence’ with Google or that it ‘exercised coercive power or has provided such significant encouragement’ to Google that give rise to state action,” Judge Thompson, an appointee of President Joe Biden, ruled.
Government Emails
Mr. Kennedy’s lawyers had pointed out emails uncovered in discovery in a different case that showed that White House officials communicated with Google officials about misinformation, including one that showed a White House official saying that removing content on vaccine hesitancy from YouTube was “a concern that is shared at the highest (and I mean highest) levels of the WH.” Other messages showed Google asking for officials to provide “evidence-based input” on specific claims.
By Zachary Stieber
