RFK Jr. is denied restraining order against Google amid censorship claims

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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. filed a lawsuit against Google after it removed several videos that featured him from Youtube, which Google owns. His request for a temporary restraining order against the company was rejected by a federal judge on Aug. 23, 2023. He has appealed the denial.

Key Players

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., son of the late attorney general and assassinated presidential candidate from the 1960s, is an independent presidential candidate for 2024 who has attracted significant funding from Republicans. Kennedy is only on the ballot in Utah, though he is gathering signatures to gain access to more states. He is also in talks with the Libertarian Party. According to an average of polls from The Hill, published on Feb. 16, Kennedy is polling nationally at 8.9%. He has been criticized for his remarks opposing vaccines and the U.S. government’s COVID-19 policies, as well as for allegedly propagating conspiracy theories. 

U.S. District Judge Trina Thompson sts on the bench in San Francisco. She was nominated by President Joe Biden. 

Further Details

One of the videos cited in RFK Jr.’s First Amendment lawsuit, which was filed on Aug. 2 in federal court in the Northern District of California, was of a speech he gave in March 2023 at Saint Anselm College in New Hampshire.

According to the suit, the speech focused “on Mr. Kennedy’s concerns about the corrupt merger of corporate and state power … which, in recent years, caused him to question the increasing numbers of vaccines American children must take.”

Interviews with figures such as conservative commentator Jordan Peterson were also removed from Youtube. None of the videos in question were personally posted by the long-shot challenger to President Joe Biden and his likely Republican opponent, former President Donald Trump.

Youtube has stated that the videos contained inaccurate medical information, violating its policy, which RFK Jr. alleges is unconstitutional. 

Google spokesperson José Castañeda told Politico that “YouTube applies its Community Guidelines independently, transparently, and consistently, regardless of political viewpoint. …These claims are meritless and we look forward to refuting them.”

RFK Jr.’s larger censorship case rests on a claim that government officials coerced YouTube to remove the videos.

Outcome

On Aug. 23, Thompson issued her decision refusing to grant the restraining order, citing Google’s role as a private entity not subject to the First Amendment. She also noted that Free Speech considerations likely don’t cover medical misinformation and that there is a public interest in preventing the promotion of such misinformation. 

Thompson said she did not find evidence of “significant encouragement” from government actors in the removal of Kennedy’s videos from YouTube.

Government officials sometimes send requests for content moderation to social media platforms, but that policy is currently under legal challenge in a different federal court, in Monroe, Louisiana. In July, Judge Terry Doughty, who was nominated by former President Donald Trump, disallowed many agencies and officials from speaking with companies about preventing constitutional Free Speech. That decision was temporarily blocked later in the month by the 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals while the underlying challenge was considered.

In the Kennedy case, Thompson also wrote that no irreparable harm would occur if the restraining order were not granted. RFK Jr. did not seek action until five months after the first video was taken down and retained the ability to post to other sites, she noted.

Kennedy appealed Thompson’s decision to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. 

There were no further developments by Feb. 15, 2024, except a tangential one: During the Super Bowl on Feb. 11, a pro-RFK Jr. ad ran, sponsored by a super PAC supporting his candidacy and featuring images of various Kennedy family members’ campaigns through the years. 

The main funder of the ad, for which RFK Jr. wound up apologizing to discontented family members, was Nicole Shanahan, the ex-wife of Google co-founder Sergey Brin.