Culture Feature

Late Capitalism Diaries: The Worst COVID Scams

There is no cure for the coronavirus, but these people still think you should give them money.

Donald Trump

By Evan El-Amin

If there's one thing that can save us from a global pandemic, it's capitalism.

Maybe you think that a sense of shared humanity uniting us in collective action — with those least at risk looking out for the most vulnerable — would be a better approach than embracing greed and short-term profit. But you're wrong.

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Culture Feature

Kennedy Conspiracies: RFK Jr. Banned From Instagram

Conspiracies and misinformation have played a central role in much of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s life.

Robert Kennedy Jr's speech on Trump's decision to exit Paris climate agreement, Granada, Spain - 08 Nov 2019

Miguel Angel Molina/EPA-EFE/Shutterstock

On Thursday environmental activist, lawyer, and vaccine "skeptic" Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was banned from Instagram as part of parent-company Facebook's ongoing fight against misinformation on their platforms.

A spokesperson for Facebook reported that they had cut off his account for "repeatedly sharing debunked claims about the coronavirus or vaccines." This comes just a few months after Kennedy's group, Children's Health Defesne, filed suit against Facebook for rejecting their ads and fact-checking posts about vaccines and 5G. But to truly understand how we got to this point, it's worth taking a look back at the history of misinformation that has swirled around Kennedy's family.

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