Instagram bans Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for sharing debunked COVID-19 vaccine claims


Robert F. Kennedy Jr. no longer has an Instagram account, with a spokesperson announcing that he was banned from the platform "for repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines."
Kennedy, the son of the late senator and attorney general Robert F. Kennedy, is an environmental activist who has been sharing anti-vaccine conspiracy theories before and throughout the coronavirus pandemic. He has helped spread the false claims that vaccines can cause autism and asked Congress to give parents exemptions from state vaccine requirements.
In a statement, Kennedy said he was the victim of "censorship," and denied that he was sharing conspiracy theories. He still has an active Facebook page with more than 300,000 followers.
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Catherine Garcia has worked as a senior writer at The Week since 2014. Her writing and reporting have appeared in Entertainment Weekly, The New York Times, Wirecutter, NBC News and "The Book of Jezebel," among others. She's a graduate of the University of Redlands and the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism.
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