Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy, Jr sue Sen. Elizabeth Warren for combating their COVID misinformation

[progressoid]

Quack tycoon Joseph Mercola and anti-vaccine crank Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., have filed a lawsuit against U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) claiming she violated their First Amendment rights when she complained that Amazon was peddling COVID misinformation, citing Mercola’s recent misinformation-filled book on COVID as an example. Anti-GMO and anti-vaccine activist Ronnie Cummins and the book’s publisher are also plaintiffs.

According to a letter sent by Sen. Warren to Amazon last September, Amazon’s search and “Best Seller” algorithms consistently returned “highly-ranked and favorably tagged books based on falsehoods about COVID-19 vaccines and cures” when her staff performed searches for terms like “COVID-19” and “vaccine”. Mercola’s windbag-titled book, The Truth About COVID: Exposing the Great Reset, Lockdowns, Vaccine Passports, and the New Normal, which Cummins co-authored and for which Kennedy wrote the introduction, topped the list. Amazon had also tagged the book as a Best Seller and the #1 Best Seller in the “Political Freedom” category.

Mercola, Sen. Warren notes in her letter, has been identified as “the most influential spreader of coronavirus misinformation online” and is apparently using his book to drive sales of supplements, despite the fact the FDA warned him to stop selling these supplements “for the unapproved and unauthorized treatment of COVID-19”. She unfavorably compared Amazon’s lack of effort in combating misinformation to that of fellow internet behemoths Facebook and Twitter, who have more aggressively supervised their content.

more...https://sciencebasedmedicine.org/mercola-and-kennedy-sue-sen-elizabeth-warren-for-combating-their-covid-misinformation/

[JohnSJ]

1. Both are deplorable

[Initech]

2. Couldn't the Holocaust Museum sue Robert Kennedy for defamation?

That seems like it could work both ways. But really, fuck him.

[RainCaster]

3. Perhaps more people could review this book

https://www.amazon.com/Truth-About-COVID-19-Lockdowns-Passports/dp/1645020886

The ratings for this book are heavily fictionalized by the anti-vaxers. Some reality should be inserted.

[Klaralven]

6. "Dr. Mercola is a visionary, pioneer, and leader."―Del Bigtree, host of The Highwire

Must be good if Del Bigtree says so.

[sakabatou]

4. Mercola and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. can go eat shit.

[diane in sf]

5. Mercola fell down a really vile paranoid rathole and apparently Robert F. Kennedy did too.

[elias7]

7. I think they should charged with crimes against humanity

These 12 purveyors of misinfo (10 others along with Mercola and Kennedy are responsible for 65% of the mis/dis info out there) are in large part responsible for the death of hundreds of thousands of people. And, they’re getting rich doing it. Mercola’s net worth is $100 million for selling snake oil.

[LiberalFighter]

8. Are they saying she doesn't have a 1st Amendment right to complain about them?

[onenote]

12. They're saying that government officials can't act to suppress speech.

As a general principle, that is undoubtedly correct. And Sen. Warren wrote to Amazon expressly in her capacity as a government official.

The problem with the lawsuit is that the case on which it relies, Bantam Books v. Sullivan, is readily distinguishable. In that case, a government "commission" sent "notices" to book sellers informing them that the commission had determined that certain books were "objectionable" and holding over the booksellers a threat of prosecution if they didn't stop selling those books.

Warren did nothing remotely similar to that. She complained about Amazon's algorithms and its failure to self-police its site for the spread of disinformation. But she didn't claim that the book or Amazon was violating any law or in any way threaten prosecution.

The suit should be dismissed, not because the suit violates Warren's first amendment rights, but because her letter didn't violate the authors' first amendment rights.

[spanone]

9. This country has lost it's fucking mind.

[Baitball Blogger]

10. Is the Morgan and Morgan lawfirm going to help Robert F. Kennedy with his case?

This is what happens when you have a large lawfirm that is trying to grow too big, too fast.

[Liberal In Texas]

11. Talk about Frivolous Lawsuits.

I thought the RW hated frivolous lawsuits. Since TFG now they're the poster children for them.