Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has complained about Google’s YouTube—in adherence to a rule against spreading misinformation—allegedly taking down videos where he speaks about the downside of vaccines and the war in Ukraine, and even a speech where he first said he was considering a run for president.
Fast-forward a year, and one of Kennedy’s staunch supporters is Nicole Shanahan, whose fortunes are partially tied to Google, given she was married to its co-founder, Sergei Brin, from 2018-2021 and the two have a 5-year-old daughter together.
“I’m a lifelong Democrat who was excited to see he was running in the Democratic primary, not because I thought he would win but because he’d welcome a discourse on environmental health,” Shanahan told Newsweek on Tuesday.
Shanahan had already donated the maximum $6,600 allowed to Kennedy’s campaign and, more recently, gave American Values 2024 $4 million that the PAC used to partially fund a $7 million Super Bowl ad that superimposed Kennedy’s image into a 64-year-old ad for his uncle John F. Kennedy’s successful campaign for president.
Kennedy, who is now running as an independent, told Newsweek in July that social media firms routinely remove his posts and he also testified to that assertion before Congress.
“Real liberals don’t censor,” he told Newsweek back then, and Shanahan agreed.
“I find that problematic; I won’t lie. We need to have a safe space to have these conversations,” she said.
Largely, the problematic “conversations” she refers to are Kennedy’s positions on vaccines, though both he and her complain about the label “anti-vaccine,” which they say is a term meant to shut down debate and research.
“Framing Bobby as an anti-vaxxer is the most powerful way of alienating the progressive voter from his campaign. What he’s highlighting is vaccine safety,” she said.
Shanahan, 38, said she was a very early adopter of the Moderna MRNA anti-COVID vaccine and its booster, and that her daughter has all of the usual childhood vaccines.
“Being called an anti-vaxxer is so unfair to the cause of objectively funding scientific research,” she said.
LEFT: Gonzalo Marroquin/Getty Images for Gold House,RIGHT: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
She also said she is backing Kennedy due to his years as an attorney focused on the environment.
“Something is happening to humans now due to the environmental spaces we inhabit. There’s a plurality of influencers that are changing the way we perform. There’s a whole list of things impacting cellular health,” she said.
Shanahan is a lawyer and tech entrepreneur who invests in scientific research, reproductive longevity and equality, sometimes by way of her Bia Echo Foundation, to which her ex-husband, Brin, has reportedly donated at least $23 million by way of shares in Alphabet, the parent company of Google and YouTube.
Without going into detail about the value of her holdings, she did say about her marriage to Brin: “In our time together, he definitely did increase his net worth by a number that is jaw-dropping. Especially during the pandemic is when I saw our family’s wealth boom. I didn’t know what to make of it at the time, to be completely honest.”
She also quipped that she has more shares of Alphabet “relative to my neighbor, probably.”
Shanahan also said she has had “significant health issues” since her mRNA vaccine, though she quickly adds that she won’t discuss details. “I don’t know if they’re related, but I’d love to know.”
She also said she is likely to give more money to a PAC, or maybe more than one, that supports Kennedy’s campaign because she’s now more confident that he can win than she was when he was running against President Joe Biden for the Democratic nomination.
While she wholeheartedly supported Biden in 2020, if it’s him versus Donald Trump this time around, she predicts a Trump victory, unless Kennedy is also on the ballot as a third-party candidate.
“I’m feeling it. I’m seeing it in polls. I think Bobby can beat Trump,” she said.
Shanahan doesn’t classify herself as a Trump hater and says that Kennedy is the standard bearer among progressives who wish to see the priorities of Americans take center stage, echoing a theme of the former president.
“Trump really made a point of putting Americans first. I understand and appreciate that messaging,” she said.
“Putting individual Americans ahead of overseas and corporate interests is what I like about Trump, but some of his behavior does not align with my values,” she said, specifically noting his alleged role in the January 6, 2021, riot at the Capitol.
“If the goal of the voter is to thrive, wake up each day in the sunlight, take a deep breath and feel good and safe to live in this country, then I really think Bobby is our guy,” she said.
Asked about the irony of money owed to the success Brin has had with Google flowing to Kennedy, a critic of YouTube and other social media, Shanahan said: “I think it would be more ironic if we were still married. But I think for myself. Google has done a lot of good for the world, but now we’re in a new chapter that requires us to be discerning.”
Newsweek has reached out to Alphabet for comment.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.