YouTube removes RFK Jr. video for vaccine misinformation

YouTube has removed an interview between commentator Jordan Peterson and 2024 presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for violating its guidelines against vaccine misinformation, the video-sharing platform said Monday. 

“We removed a video from the Jordan Peterson channel for violating YouTube’s general vaccine misinformation policy, which prohibits content that alleges that vaccines cause chronic side effects, outside of rare side effects that are recognized by health authorities,” a YouTube spokesperson told The Hill in a statement. 

The anti-vaccine activist kicked off a Democratic presidential bid in April and is vying for the White House in a challenge to President Biden, who is running for reelection. Kennedy is the nephew of former President Kennedy and the son of former Attorney General Robert Kennedy. 

Kennedy and Peterson both criticized YouTube for the removal of the video, which was posted earlier this month and is still up on Twitter.

“What do you think … Should social media platforms censor presidential candidates? My conversation with @JordanBPeterson was deleted by @YouTube,” Kennedy wrote on Twitter, adding a thanks to Elon Musk, who owns the platform. In subsequent posts, Kennedy used the hashtag “#letRFKspeak.” 

Peterson shared Kennedy’s post, accusing YouTube of having “taken upon itself to actively interfere with a presidential election campaign.” 

YouTube’s vaccine misinformation policy disallows content “that poses a serious risk of egregious harm by spreading medical misinformation about currently administered vaccines that are approved and confirmed to be safe and effective by local health authorities and by the World Health Organization (WHO).”

The video-sharing platform stresses that its guidelines apply to all content and creators on the platform, regardless of politics.

It’s not the first time Kennedy has come under fire for his claims about the negative side effects of vaccinations. Kennedy’s Instagram was reinstated earlier this month after being suspended for posting “debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines.”