No, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. hasn't announced a Hershey's chocolate ban | Fact check
The claim: RFK Jr. announced Hershey’s Chocolate will be banned starting on Jan. 20, 2025
A Dec. 9 Facebook post (direct link, archive link) includes an image asserting that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced a popular candy will be inaccessible in the U.S. in 2025.
“BREAKING: Effective January 20th, Hershey’s Chocolate will be BANNED in the United States,” reads the text on the image, which is a screenshot of a post by @RFKJrHealthSec on X. “Make America Healthy Again. #MAHA.”
Other versions of the claim circulated on Facebook and X.
More from the Fact-Check Team: How we pick and research claims | Email newsletter | Facebook page
Our rating: False
There’s no evidence of any such ban. The claim originated on a parody account.
Kennedy has called for banning certain food additives, chemicals
President-elect Donald Trump named Kennedy as his pick for Department of Health and Human Services secretary on Nov. 14. Kennedy responded to Trump's nomination by saying he was "committed to advancing your vision to Make America Healthy Again" in an X post that day.
Kennedy has supported banning certain food additives and chemicals, as well as removing processed foods from school lunches, as Paste BN reported.
But there’s no evidence Kennedy announced a ban on Hershey’s chocolate.
The X profile shown in the Facebook image doesn't belong to Kennedy – its bio describes it as a parody account. Kennedy’s actual X profile is @RobertKennedyJr, and there is no mention of any such ban on his account.
No credible news outlets have reported on any such ban.
It's an example of what could be called "stolen satire," where content written as satire and presented that way originally is captured via screenshot and reposted in a way that makes it appear to be legitimate news. As a result, readers of the second-generation post are misled, as was the case here.
Fact check: No, McDonald’s didn’t offer RFK Jr. $850 million in ‘hush money’
Paste BN has debunked an array of stolen satire claims tied to Trump, including false assertions that Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas announced he would retire on Jan. 21, 2025, that Jimmy Kimmel announced his show would end on the day of Trump’s inauguration and that Kash Patel’s dad said his son was a childhood friend of Ramaswamy.
Paste BN reached out to The Hershey Company and the user who shared the post for comment but did not immediately receive a response.
Check Your Fact also debunked the claim.
Our fact-check sources
- @RFKJrHealthSec, accessed Dec. 11, X account
- Robert Kennedy, Jr., accessed Dec. 11, X account
- The Hershey Company, accessed Dec. 11, Press Releases
Thank you for supporting our journalism. You can subscribe to our print edition, ad-free app or e-newspaper here.
Paste BN is a verified signatory of the International Fact-Checking Network, which requires a demonstrated commitment to nonpartisanship, fairness and transparency. Our fact-check work is supported in part by a grant from Meta.