Instagram lifts ban on conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

It turns out there's one really simple way to avoid an Instagram ban: Run for president.

On Sunday, Instagram lifted its ban on Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a conspiracy theorist who has a penchant for spreading misinformation about vaccines. He rose to fame not for being the son of U.S. attorney general Robert F. Kennedy or the nephew of president John F. Kennedy but for fueling dangerous misinformation about COVID-19. As NPR reported in 2022, the spread of COVID-19 misinformation — which was and isoften politically motivated — worsened the already devastating death toll.

Kennedy said vaccines were linked to autism — a harmful and false claim that has been debunked time and time again— and compared vaccine mandates to Nazi Germany.

SEE ALSO: Instagram attempts to explain 'shadowbanning', but creators still aren't happy

"As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we have restored access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, Instagram account," Andy Stone, a spokesperson for Meta said in a statement to CNN. According to The Washington Post, his return to the platform will also give him access to his 772,000 followers.

Mashable Top Stories Stay connected with the hottest stories of the day and the latest entertainment news. Sign up for Mashable's Top Stories newsletter By clicking Sign Me Up, you confirm you are 16+ and agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Thanks for signing up!

Kennedy was originally "permanently" bannedin February 2021 for repeatedly sharing and posting "debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines." His Facebook account remained active throughout all of this. Meta owns both Facebook and Instagram, so that's kind of weird. But now he's running for the Democratic presidential nomination, so who cares!

After announcing he would be running for the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination, Kennedy said he couldn't make a new Instagram account. "Can anyone guess why that’s happening?" he tweeted at the time. (Kennedy is unlikely to win the nomination, as current President Joe Biden is running for reelection.)

This Tweet is currently unavailable. It might be loading or has been removed.

Running for office seems to be the easiest way to get back on Instagram after you've been kicked off the platform for violating its rules. As CNN reported, Meta has been consistent in allowing candidates to use its platforms to reach voters — whether those candidates break the rules or not. Former President Donald Trump was also reinstated after it was clear he was running for president again in 2024.

---

Related Stories

---

• Why you might not see news on Facebook or Instagram in Canada
• Instagram attempts to explain 'shadowbanning', but creators still aren't happy
• How to hide likes on Instagram
• How to change the order of photos in an album on Instagram
• How to unblock Instagram for free

This comes at a time in which Meta is struggling — as they always are with something. Meta has begun tests on its social media platforms that will limit some users and publishers from viewing and sharing some news content in Canada after the country proposed a billthat would require Meta and other platformsto pay Canadian news outlets for the content that they put on the social media sites. It had basically the same reaction to a similar bill in California.

It is pretty devastating to reinstate presidential candidates' Instagram accounts when they have routinely proven that they are not responsible enough to be in charge of a social media platform — while also threatening to ban news on the site.