RFK Jr issues censorship warning after Met Police threaten to arrest Americans for online speech - 'Authoritarianism knows no boundaries'
RFK Jr took aim at "elites who want to decide what is permissible to read and watch"
Reuters/PA
Longshot presidential hopeful Robert F Kennedy Jr has issued a stark censorship warning after the Metropolitan Police suggested Americans could face arrest for online speech.
Writing on social media amid a row between the UK Government, the EU, Donald Trump, and Elon Musk over the legality of "hate speech" or inciteful content, RFK Jr name-dropped a number of high-profile groups who he claimed were clamping on free speech.
He wrote: "Today's authoritarianism knows no boundaries. London's Metropolitan Police Chief just told the world that he will be coming after anyone who violates British social media censorship rules with international extradition requests - to include American citizens.
"Simultaneously, the EU's Censorship 'Kommisar' Thierry Breton just told Elon Musk he can't allow EU citizens to witness tonight's interview with President Trump.
RFK Jr claimed MI6 designated him a "terrorist"
Reuters
"The elites who want to decide what is permissible to read and watch justify their censorship by labeling dissenting opinions as -misinformation', 'hate speech', 'far right', or 'extremist'.
"During the lockdowns, MI6 designated me and other health freedom activists as potential 'terrorists'.
"But the label applies more closely to themselves, as they try to scare us into submission again with bird flu hoaxes, debt-fueled financial collapse, and ever more dangerous imperial wars of choice.
"This is definitely a wake-up call, America.
FREE SPEECH UNDER THREAT - READ MORE:
RFK Jr's entry into UK politics marks a unusual foreign flailing for the latest member of the Kennedy dynasty to seek high office
Reuters
"It's time to reclaim our government. If not in America, the paragon of freedom, then where?"
RFK's tirade came hours after Breton - the so-called "Kommisar", or the Commissioner for Internal Market of the European Union - penned an open letter to billionaire tech magnate Musk telling him to censor his interview with ex-President Donald Trump.
Breton warned the world's richest man about his legal obligation to stop the "amplification of harmful content".
The warnings follow a bitter spat between South African-born Musk and British political figures including Sir Keir Starmer and ex-Scottish First Minister Humza Yousaf.
With great audience comes greater responsibility #DSA
— Thierry Breton (@ThierryBreton) August 12, 2024
As there is a risk of amplification of potentially harmful content in 🇪🇺 in connection with events with major audience around the world, I sent this letter to @elonmusk
📧⤵️ pic.twitter.com/P1IgxdPLzn
Musk was warned about his legal obligation to stop the "amplification of harmful content"
Reuters
Musk, joining in with barbs this side of the pond, nicknamed the Prime Minister "two-tier Keir" after the Labour leader clamped down on violent protesters following a series of anti-immigration demonstrations across England and Northern Ireland.
But RFK Jr's entry into UK politics marks a unusual foreign flailing for the latest member of the Kennedy dynasty to seek high office.
Though Kennedy Jr took aim at police in London, he may need to turn his attention to authorities in New York after confessing to dumping a dead bear in NYC's Central Park a decade ago - and staging it to look like a bike had hit it.
RFK Jr said: "I had an old bike in my car that somebody asked me to get rid of... I said: 'Let's go put the bear in Central Park and we'll make it look like he got hit by a bike'" - before saying it would be "amusing" for whoever found it.