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Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and His League of Extraordinary Anti-Vaxxers Sue Media Outlets Over Conspiracy ‘Boycott’

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Anti-vaccine conspiracy theorists have joined forces in a bizarre lawsuit that accuses The Washington Post, the BBC, the Associated Press, and Reuters of violating 19th-century antitrust laws by refusing to credit bogus COVID-19 conspiracy theories and anti-vaccine misinformation.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr., one of the most prominent anti-vaxxers and the son of the late Democratic presidential candidate, joined 10 other plaintiffs in a suit that claims the news outlets are illegally boycotting right-wing conspiracy theories by engaging in an industry partnership to fight misinformation.

The nearly 100-page complaint claims that the Trusted News Initiative, started by the BBC in late 2020, violates the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, which prohibits industry cartels, price fixing, and other anti-competitive behavior.

According to Kennedy’s complaint, prominent news organizations and social media platforms conspired to label right-wing talking points about COVID vaccines, quack COVID-19 remedies like ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, and Hunter Biden’s laptop as misinformation because the outlets pushing them represent a “competitive threat to legacy news organizations.”

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The Trusted News Initiative partners sued by Kennedy and others describe itself as a “global partnership bringing together organisations across media and technology to tackle harmful disinformation.” Members of the initiative, including both news publishers and social media companies, “alert each other to high-risk disinformation” to ensure that both publishers and social media platforms don’t “unwittingly share dangerous falsehoods,” according to its website.

The co-plaintiffs on the suit read like a who’s who of conspiracy theorist pundits. They include half the members of the so-called “disinformation dozen” — a list of 12 anti-vaccine influencers, which the Center for Countering Digital Hate estimated were responsible for nearly two-thirds of the anti-vaccine misinformation on social media.

Among the outlets allegedly targeted as a “competitive threat” to the BBC, Reuters, and AP is The Gateway Pundit, a far-right website published by co-plaintiff Jim Hoft. Hoft’s site is currently facing a series of lawsuits alleging his outlet has defamed election workers in Georgia and the voting technology firm Dominion. The outlet is notorious for repeatedly misidentifying murderers in prominent public attacks, including the driver behind an attack at the 2017 Charlottesville white nationalist riot, the Las Vegas mass shooter, and the shooter at a 2018 Madden NFL video game tournament.

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Creative Destruction Media, another plaintiff in the suit alleging illegal anti-competitive behavior, listed among its complaints that Facebook “blocked all CD Media content after a post that included images of Hunter Biden from LinkedIn and Facebook and stated, ‘we have the Hunter Biden sex tapes…one per hour being released.’”

Kennedy rose to fame as an anti-vaccine conspiracy theorist in part on the strength of his 2005 Rolling Stone article “Deadly Immunity,” which falsely asserted a link between childhood vaccines and autism. Scientists have since repeatedly debunked claims of a link between vaccinations and autism, and Rolling Stone retracted the article in 2011.

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Taylor Swift's new album apparently leaks, causing social media chaos – CBC News

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The hype for Taylor Swift’s new album went into overdrive as it appeared to leak online two days ahead of its Friday release.

Swifties started sharing tracks on X that they claimed were from the singer’s upcoming album, The Tortured Poets Department, saying they came from a Google Drive link containing all 17 songs.

Some fans were upset by the leak and said they would wait until Friday to listen while others started frantically posting fake links on X to bury the “real” tracks.

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“Raise your hand if ur an ACTUAL Taylor Swift fan and aren’t listening to leaks,” one user wrote.

Several media outlets reported that X briefly blocked the search term “Taylor Swift leak” on Wednesday.

CBC has reached out to Swift’s publicist for comment.

Swift announced the release, her 11th studio album and the first with all new songs since 2022’s Midnights, at the Grammy Awards ceremony in February.

Fans have been speculating about the lyrical themes that would appear on The Tortured Poets Department, based in part on a physical “library installation” that opened Tuesday in Los Angeles, curated with items that drop hints and references to the inspirations behind the album.

Swift’s 2022 album Midnights, which featured the hit Anti-Hero, also leaked online ahead of its scheduled release date, and went on to win the Grammy for album of the year. Swift’s previous albums 1989, Reputation and Lover also leaked ahead of their official releases. 

The singer is in the midst of her billion-dollar-grossing Eras tour, which is moving through the U.S. and is scheduled to conclude in Vancouver in December. 

Swift was added to Forbes magazine’s annual new billionaires list earlier this month, with Forbes saying she was the first musician to become a billionaire based solely on her songs and performances. 

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DJT Stock Jumps. The Truth Social Owner Is Showing Stockholders How to Block Short Sellers. – Barron's

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DJT Stock Jumps. The Truth Social Owner Is Showing Stockholders How to Block Short Sellers.  Barron’s

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Taylor Swift's new album allegedly 'leaked' on social media and it's causing a frenzy – CTV News

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Social media can be a divisive place, but even more so when it comes to Taylor Swift.

A Google Drive link allegedly containing 17 tracks that are purportedly from Swift’s eagerly awaited “The Tortured Poets Department” album has been making the rounds on the internet in the past day and people are equal parts mad, sad and happy about it.

CNN has reached out to Swift’s representative for comment.

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The actual album is slated to drop at midnight Friday, but the claimed leak is both being hailed and nailed by Swift’s supporters.

One person shared a drawing of a young woman asleep in a sparkly bed with sparkly blankets on X, writing, “How I slept last night knowing I’m going to hear TTPD for the very first time tonight cause I haven’t listened to any leaks.”

Yet another person posted a video of two models walking and wrote, “Me and my bestie on our way to listen to #TSTTPD leaks.”

On Thursday, “Taylor Swift leaks” was a prevented search phrase on X.

The general consensus among those who have decided to be “leak free” appears to be that they are the true Swifties – as her hard core fan base is known – because they don’t believe the singer would have sanctioned such a “leak.”

Swift herself has gone to great lengths to prevent unintended early releases in the past.

“I have a lot of maybe, maybe-not-irrational fears of security invasion, wiretaps, people eavesdropping,” Swift said of her music during an 2014 appearance on” Jimmy Kimmel Live.” She added that her “1989” album only existed on her phone, “covered in cat stickers and the volume buttons don’t work very well because there’s candy stuck in there,” for nearly two years.

“The Tortured Poets Department” is Swift’s 11th album and comes after she became the first woman and only solo artist to win the Grammy for album of the year three times.

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