Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and The Gateway Pundit’s Jim Hoft Join with Others In Antitrust Lawsuit Against Legacy Media for Efforts to Exclude Rivals From Internet Platforms
World-renowned attorney joins trusted online news source, medical professionals and independent journalists and media outlets to address collusion among behemoth media conglomerates to silence smaller publishing competitors in violation of antitrust and free speech laws.
AMARILLO, TEXAS—JAN. 11, 2023— A first-of-its-kind antitrust action was filed Tuesday against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), The Washington Post, Reuters, and Associated Press for damages totaling millions for the plaintiffs subject to trebling and seeks to address the boycott and censorship of health-freedom advocates, activists, journalists and medical professionals who dared to question the narrative relating to the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine mandates.
The lawsuit reveals that by March 2020, a partnership was created called the Trusted News Initiative (TNI) between Big Tech and legacy media to exclude rival publishers from the dominant internet platforms. The partnership was launched by BBC Director-General Tony Hall, with the agreement that members of the TNI “work together to . . . ensure that disinformation myths are stopped in their tracks.” This coordinated effort is, by definition, a classic form of a “group boycott” to damage the ability of smaller publishers to compete or even survive.
Members of the TNI include legacy media outlets the BBC, The Washington Post, Reuters and Associated Press, along with social media and tech giants—Twitter, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Microsoft, Google/YouTube and LinkedIn. TNI members collectively hold 90% of the overall social media market, 90% share of the social networking market, 75% of the video hosting market, and over 90% of the search-engine market.
The complaint points to multiple examples of what plaintiffs state violates antitrust laws.
“By their own admission, members of the ‘Trusted News Initiative’ (‘TNI’) agreed to work together, and have in fact worked together, to exclude from the world’s dominant Internet platforms rival news publishers who engage in reporting that challenges and competes with TNI members’ reporting on certain issues relating to COVID-19 and U.S. politics.
…For example, TNI members deemed the following to be ‘misinformation’ that could not be published on the world’s dominant Internet platforms: (A) claims that COVID originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China; (B) claims that the COVID vaccines do not prevent infection; (C) claims that vaccinated persons can transmit COVID to others; and (D) claims that compromising emails and videos were found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden.
…The TNI did not only prevent Internet users from making these claims; it shut down online news publishers who simply reported that such claims were being made by potentially credible sources, such as scientists and physicians.”
Dr. Ben Tapper, Dr. Joseph Mercola, founder of The Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, independent journalists Ben Swann and Erin Elizabeth Finn and independent news outlets TrialSite News and Creative Destruction Media, and health-freedom activists Ty and Charlene Bollinger join Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Children’s Health Defense (CHD) as plaintiffs.
“My uncle, President Kennedy, and my father, the Attorney General, sought to prosecute antitrust laws that are still on the nation’s books with vigor,” said Kennedy. “As private enforcers of those laws, we are confident that the Federal Court in Texas will vindicate our bedrock freedom to compete with legacy media in the marketplace of ideas.”
RFK, Jr. and CHD have long questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccines, more recently fighting COVID-19 vaccinations and other U.S. government-mandated pandemic response actions.
“We are proud to stand with Robert Kennedy Jr. in a landmark lawsuit to address and preserve the free speech rights in America. Since the COVID pandemic was announced, The Gateway Pundit has been targeted by media conglomerates and social media giants, aided and abetted by federal agencies, to censor our proven reporting and our free speech. Now, years later, it has been confirmed that our reporting was timely and accurate,” said The Gateway Pundit Founder Jim Hoft.
“This lawsuit is about preserving our free speech rights as Americans and holding those involved in violating antitrust laws accountable, like the TNI. My husband and I remain steadfast in our commitment to highlighting the well-documented risks of COVID-19 vaccines and the myriad of dangers to those who have been misled by the media.”. said Charlene Bollinger.
“These are the twin evils of our day,” added Dr. Joseph Mercola. “Platforms partner with the alphabet soup of federal agencies to censor speech. Those same platforms and legacy media outlets conspire to boycott stories that don’t fit an official narrative about COVID and many other topics. Our nation’s founding fathers would be appalled and resolute in defense of maintaining an informed citizenry.”
For more information, contact Kristin Davis at Kristin@ThinkRightPR.com.
Here is a copy of the lawsuit filed on Tuesday in the Northern District of Texas Amarillo Division.
FILED LAWSUIT – TNI Complaint Kennedy and Hoft Filed Complaint by Jim Hoft on Scribd
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