Alternative Healthcare Activists File Antitrust Lawsuit Against Legacy Media For Efforts To Silence Rivals From Internet Platforms

Ty and Charlene Bollinger, founders of The Truth About Cancer, are joining Robert F. Kennedy Jr., respected medical professionals, healthcare freedom activists, along with independent media outlets, to address the collusion between five of the world's largest media conglomerates to silence smaller publishing competitors in violation of free speech and antitrust laws. 

AMARILLO, Texas, Jan. 11, 2023 /PRNewswire/ -- A first-of-its-kind antitrust action was filed Tuesday against the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), The Washington Post, Reuters, and Associated Press, seeking damages totaling millions of dollars based on the collusive censorship of online health and political news publishers who dared to question the narrative relating to vital matters such as COVID-19 pandemic and vaccine mandates.

The lawsuit reveals that by March 2020, a partnership was created called the Trusted News Initiative (TNI) between Big Tech and legacy media to exclude rival publishers from the dominant internet platforms. On Dec. 10, 2020, TNI agreed to focus on combatting the spread of harmful vaccine disinformation. This coordinated effort is, by definition, a classic unlawful "group boycott" to damage the ability of smaller publishers to compete or even survive.

Members of the TNI include legacy media outlets the BBC, The Washington Post, Reuters, Financial Times and Associated Press, along with social media and tech giants—Twitter, Meta (Facebook/Instagram), Microsoft/LinkedIn and Google/YouTube. TNI members collectively hold 90% of the overall social media market, a 90% share of the social networking market, 75% of the video hosting market, and over 90% of the search-engine market.

The complaint points to multiple examples of what plaintiffs state violates antitrust laws. 

"By their own admission, members of the 'Trusted News Initiative' ('TNI') 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.

…For example, TNI members deemed the following to be 'misinformation' that could not be published on the world's dominant Internet platforms: (A) claims that COVID originated in a laboratory in Wuhan, China; (B) claims that the COVID vaccines do not prevent infection; (C) claims that vaccinated persons can transmit COVID to others; and (D) claims that compromising emails and videos were found on a laptop belonging to Hunter Biden. 

…The TNI did not only prevent Internet users from making these claims; it shut down online news publishers who simply reported that such claims were being made by potentially credible sources, such as scientists and physicians."

Dr. Joseph Mercola, founder of The Gateway Pundit Jim Hoft, Dr. Ben Tapper, independent journalists Ben Swann and Erin Elizabeth Finn, independent news outlets TrialSite News and Creative Destruction Media and health-freedom activists Ty and Charlene Bollinger join Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. and Children's Health Defense (CHD) as plaintiffs.

"This lawsuit is about preserving our free speech rights as Americans and holding those involved in violating antitrust laws accountable like the TNI. My husband and I remain steadfast in our commitment to highlighting the well documented risks of taking the COVID-19 vaccine and the myriad of dangers facing those who were misled by the TNI media partnership," said Charlene Bollinger.

Ty and Charlene Bollinger have spent decades educating Americans about alternative medical treatments including a NYT bestselling book called "The Truth About Cancer", which has sold over 250,000 copies, along with millions of people viewing their content on major social media platforms before being banned. The Bollingers were simultaneously labeled among the "disinformation dozen" by the Biden administration and maligned by the mainstream media due to questioning the COVID-19 vaccines.

SOURCE The Truth About Cancer