A consortium of wingnuts led by Robert Kennedy Jnr were taking various news organisations to court because they are collaborating to boycott the disinformation and drivel that the wingnut consortium are promoting. They have now dropped the case.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr, one of the most prominent anti-vaxxers, had joined 10 other plintiffs in a complaint that claimed that various news outlets are illegally boycotting right-wing conspiracy theories by conspiring in an industry partnership (the Trusted News Initiative) to combat misinformation. The basis of their complaint was the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890. This law prohibits industry cartels, price fixing, and other anti-competitive behaviour. The intended and main uses of this law has been in commerce where business practices have worked against consumer interests. Theoretically if the disinformation ‘industry’ can establish that they have lost income as a result of their drivel being suppressed then there might be a case. Do stupid, or cynical, people have a right to monetise their illogical and antiy-intellectual nonsense?
The case was initially lodged in a Texas court. That court moved the case to a New York court on 15th May. The plaintiffs removed the case from the court on 18th May 2023.
The result is that the ridiculous drivel that Kennedy Jnr and his wingnut friends put out can continue to be challenged and excluded from dissemination.
In late 2020 the BBC established the Trusted News Initiative in an attempt to counter the the flood of drivel being pumped out by various clueless individuals. Much of this is anti-vaccination and Covid denial content of various sorts. Various organisations joined this initiative to notify each other of relevant material and posts being circulated on social media. Members of the initiative include The Washington Post, the BBC, the Associated Press, and Reuters.
Over a 2 month period it was found that about 65% of anti-vaccine content could be traced to a few leading online anti-vaxxers. These have been referred to as the Disinformation Dozen. These include Joseph Mercola, Robert F. Kennedy, Jr, Sherri Tenpenny, Ty and Charlene Bollinger, Rizza Islam, Rashid Buttar, Erin Elizabeth, Sayer Ji, Kelly Brogan, Christiane Northrup, Ben Tapper and Kevin Jenkins.
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Photo credit Gage Skidmore