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Robert F. Kennedy Jr.: Praise for Elon Musk

Photo: JOSEPH PREZIOSO / AFP

Tech billionaire Elon Musk has offered the controversial Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a stage for his unpromising election campaign in a special Twitter event. The nephew of former US President John F. Kennedy is running for the presidency in the United States.

Democrat Kennedy Jr. has attracted attention in the past as an opponent of vaccination and because of a trivialization of the Holocaust. In conversation with Elon Musk, he now held questionable views on media freedom in the USA. He praised Twitter CEO Musk for abolishing the "censorship" of social media. He accused social media, for example, of bowing to government pressure to censor anti-establishment views. Since Elon Musk took over Twitter, however, LGBTQ+ activists, for example, have complained that they have observed more and more threats and intolerance on Twitter.

Technical problems under control

At the end of May, Musk had already organized a "Space" for Republican Ron DeSantis, an audio live conversation, for the start of his election campaign. However, there had been major technical problems, and the »Space« broke off.

Kennedy's event, however, went off without any major mishaps. At times, up to 64,000 people listened to the conversation, which lasted about two and a half hours.

Back in April, Kennedy Jr. announced his bid for the Democratic presidential nomination. However, since US President Joe Biden is also running again, Kennedy Jr. is given a very poor chance of winning.

Kennedy Jr. mainly has fans on the right. During the corona pandemic, he had criticized the distance rules and vaccine mandates. In 2017, then-President Donald Trump appointed him head of a vaccine review panel to criticize scientists.

At a 2022 rally in Washington, he also claimed that Americans had less freedom during the pandemic than Jews in Nazi Germany. He later apologized for his remarks.

Kennedy had been banned from social media for spreading false information about vaccines and Covid-19. Recently, it was resumed by Instagram.

ptz/Reuters