Big Tech Continues to Censor Supporters of RFK Jr

X (formerly Twitter) praises itself for being a pro-free speech platform. However, there is clear evidence that it has limited the reach of accounts supporting Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for President while providing no information on what violations occurred or how to appeal.

This is odd considering that Elon Musk has been very fair and even-handed in dealing with Kennedy’s X account, even interviewing him about his run for president as related to the topic of censorship.

It is unclear if the throttling of RFK-supportive accounts is happening because of X policies, false reports from unknown anti-RFK accounts, or due to rules X adopted last year from the Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) implemented by CEO Linda Yaccarino.

One of the X accounts whose reach is being limited is TEACHERS FOR CHOICE, which I personally run. On February 18, 2024, I received a message in the account’s notification section stating that I “may…be engaging” in “platform manipulation.”

My account was not, and is not, engaging in anything of the sort. But there was no explanation as to why I was being accused of this and no mechanism for me to dispute it.

The day before I received the above message, Tayyy, who is an RFK supporter from Georgia, posted the exact same flag on her account:

On X, Antiwar Misfit responded: 

“This has happened to a lot of Kennedy supporters. Including to me! I hope they review and remove it quickly”

And just one day later, Lloyd Chapman – also an RFK Jr. supporter – posted that he was able to prove his account was being “deboosted” and “ghost-banned.”

Last week, Elon Musk posted that subscribing to the X-platform by paying for a blue-check “is the only way to ensure that major brand advertisers cannot demand censorship on this platform.”

I replied to Musk’s tweet from the TEACHERS FOR CHOICE account saying I would love to purchase a blue-check, but I can’t make that investment until I know what is and is not happening to my X account in terms of censorship and reach.

So what exactly is happening here?

GARM

It’s unclear what is happening with these RFK-supporting accounts. It is particularly concerning that X is not providing any way to find out what the alleged violation is, nor a method to dispute it.

Last year, X’s new WEF-linked CEO Linda Yaccarino brought in the WEF-linked Global Alliance for Responsible Media (GARM) to the platform. GARM offers content moderation tools that some call a censorship mechanism.

Yaccarino was widely viewed as an odd pick by Elon Musk to be the CEO of X since her work for NBC and affiliation with WEF did not appear to be in line with the tenets of free speech. However, business is business and Musk doesn’t want X to be a sinkhole for cash, so Yaccarino was tasked to increase ad revenue to the platform, as reported by Bloomberg.

Last year, House Judiciary Chairman Jim Jordan subpoenaed top officials at GARM and the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA). Jordan never received a response to this request for documents relating to collusion that may violate antitrust laws in America. There has been zero follow up reporting on this flagrant disregard for an official subpoena from the US Government.

According to Influence Watch, GARM is a flagship project of the WEF. They explain:

GARM’s leadership seek (sic) to “tamp down” on content that challenges what it calls “brand safety,” a concept that has been described as censorship. The organization works to ensure that no one whom it deems as bad actors has access to advertiser funding and supports artificial intelligence (AI) that can identify and block what GARM identifies as “harmful content.”

GARM also works to measure and restrict online discussion on topics it classifies as “debated sensitive social issues.”

Is Kennedy for president a “debated sensitive social issue”?

We at Honest Media appreciate Elon Musk opening the door for free speech on social media through the Twitter Files, bringing back banned accounts, and giving a prominent platform to important free speech supporters such as Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, Kennedy, and so many others. We hope Musk and X will be able to provide answers and solutions to the issues we laid out in this report.

Since X has provided no mechanism for throttled RFK supporters to challenge false allegations, Honest Media hopes this report can reach Elon Musk (or relevant officials at X who can assist in this matter). Any help that readers can provide to raise their attention to this topic would be appreciated.