Children's Health Defense has filed a potentially groundbreaking lawsuit making antitrust and constitutional claims against four media outlets: The Associated Press, Reuters, the BBC, and The Washington Post.
The lawsuit targets the Trusted News Initiative, an "industry partnership" that launched in March 2020 to go "beyond fake news."
The suit alleges the TNI media outlets partnered or colluded with several Big Tech firms to collectively censor online news — particularly stories about the COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine, along with stories about the 2020 presidential election.
TNI's March 2020 launch coincided with the COVID-19 shutdown throughout America. It also had time parallels to Joe Biden emerging from the pack to secure the Democratic National Committee's presidential nomination.
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., CHD chair and chief litigation counsel, announced the lawsuit Tuesday night on Fox News.
The other plaintiffs include: Creative Destruction Media; TrialSite News; Ty and Charlene Bollinger, founders of The Truth About Cancer and The Truth About Vaccines; independent journalist Ben Swann; Erin Elizabeth Finn, publisher of Health Nut News; Jim Hoft, founder of The Gateway Pundit; Dr. Joseph Mercola; and Ben Tapper, a chiropractor.
The lawsuit states, "This is an antitrust action." It goes on to say, "Federal antitrust law has its own name for this kind of 'industry partnership': it's called a 'group boycott' and is a per se violation of the Sherman Act."
According to the lawsuit's executive summary: "The TNI exists to, in its own words, 'choke off' and 'stamp out' online news reporting that the TNI or any of its members peremptorily deems 'misinformation.'
"TNI members have targeted and suppressed completely accurate online reporting by non-mainstream news publishers concerning both COVID-19 (on matters including treatments, immunity, lab leak, vax injury and lockdowns/mandates), and U.S. elections (such as the Hunter Biden laptop story)."
The lawsuit continues: "By their own admission, members of the [TNI] have 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.
"While the 'Trusted News Initiative' publicly purports to be a self-appointed 'truth police' extirpating online 'misinformation,' in fact it has suppressed wholly accurate and legitimate reporting in furtherance of the economic self-interest of its members."
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