YouTube Removes Conspiracy Theory-Riddled RFK Jr. Interview For Violating Vaccine Misinformation Policy

Jordan Peterson, the controversial podcaster and opinion host, tweeted on Sunday that his recent interview with RFK Jr. had been removed from YouTube.

In the interview, RFK Jr. repeated an old conspiratorial claim from Alex Jones that chemicals in the water supply are forcibly feminizing frogs and took it one step further by suggesting the same was likely happening in human beings as well. RFK Jr. also repeated his usual anti-vaccine talking points claiming vaccines both are ineffective and carry significant health risks.

Google confirmed to Mediaite later on Monday that the interview had been removed for violating YouTube’s policy on vaccine misinformation. “We removed a video from the Jordan Peterson channel for violating YouTube’s general vaccine misinformation policy, which prohibits content that alleges that vaccines cause chronic side effects, outside of rare side effects that are recognized by health authorities.”

RFK Jr.’s conspiratorial rhetoric has been under close scrutiny in recent days as he has become a mainstay in headlines. Clips from his interview with Peterson baselessly linking the water supply to sex changes in humans went viral over the weekend after a recent appearance on Joe Rogan’s popular podcast.

“I think a lot of the problems we see in kids, particularly boys, it’s probably underappreciated on that how much of that is coming from chemical exposures, including a lot of the sexual dysphoria that we’re seeing,” declared the 2024 presidential candidate while talking with Peterson in early June.

“I mean, they’re swimming through a soup of toxic chemicals today, and many of those are endocrine disruptors. There’s atrazine throughout our water supply,” he continued, adding:

Atrazine, by the way, if you in a lab put atrazine in a tank full of frogs, it will chemically castrate and forcefully feminize every frog in there. And 10% of the frogs, the male frogs will will turn into fully viable females able to produce viable eggs if it’s doing that to frogs. It could, there’s a lot of other evidence that it’s doing to human beings as well.

Peterson raged on Twitter that YouTube removing the interview meant the company “has taken upon itself to actively interfere with a presidential election campaign.”

RFK Jr., who is running as a Democrat and is popular with many on the far-right from Peterson to Steve Bannon, also reacted to his interview being taken down.

“What do you think … Should social media platforms censor presidential candidates? My conversation with @JordanBPeterson was deleted by @YouTube. Luckily you can watch it here on @Twitter (thank you @elonmusk),” wrote RFK Jr.

RFK Jr.’s appearance on Rogan’s podcast included him spreading conspiracy theories “about vaccines, 5G and Wi-Fi technology, and ivermectin,” noted the Verge. Rogan subsequently challenged a critic of RFK Jr., noted vaccine expert Dr. Peter Hotez, to debate RFK Jr. on his podcast, a challenge Hotez rejected as he argued he did not want to create a spectacle and boost those spreading inaccurate information.

RFK Jr.’s long history of spreading false information about vaccines landed him a ban on Instagram during the pandemic and has made him a hero to many vaccine skeptics. Instagram lifted his ban in early June, “As he is now an active candidate for president of the United States, we have restored access to Robert F. Kennedy, Jr.’s, Instagram account,” noted a Meta spokesperson.

Editor’s note: This article has been updated to note Google’s confirmation that the interview was removed and its rationale for doing so. 

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