Aug 9 (Reuters) - Meta Platforms ( META ) defeated an

appeal by Children's Health Defense, an anti-vaccine group

founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., challenging its censorship of

Facebook posts that spread misinformation about vaccines'

efficacy and safety.

In a decision on Friday, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of

Appeals in Pasadena, California, said the nonprofit did not show

that Meta worked with or was coerced by federal officials to

suppress views challenging "government orthodoxy" on vaccines.

Children's Health Defense sued in 2020, saying that Meta had

violated its constitutional rights by flagging "vaccine

misinformation" as false, and taking away its right to advertise

on Facebook.

Meta's actions included prohibiting users from sharing

claims that COVID-19 vaccines don't work, and referring viewers

of Children's Health Defense posts to the World Health

Organization for facts about COVID-19.

Circuit Judge Eric Miller, appointed to the court by

Republican former President Donald Trump, wrote for the appeals

court that Meta was a "purely private" company with a First

Amendment right not to use its platform to promote views it

found distasteful.

"Meta evidently believes that vaccines are safe and

effective and that their use should be encouraged," Miller

wrote. "It does not lose the right to promote those views simply

because they happen to be shared by the government."

The court also rejected Children's Health Defense's claims

against the Poynter Institute and Science Feedback, which help

Meta evaluate the accuracy of Facebook content.

Kennedy, an independent U.S. presidential candidate, helped

argue Children's Health Defense's appeal. Meta removed the

group's accounts from Facebook and Instagram in August 2022.

Children's Health Defense did not immediately respond to

requests for comment. Neither Meta nor lawyers for the Menlo

Park, California-based company immediately responded to similar

requests.

Circuit Judge Daniel Collins, also a Trump appointee,

dissented from Friday's decision, saying that Children's Health

Defense could seek an injunction on its free speech claims. He

agreed that its other claims, including for monetary damages,

should be dismissed.

Friday's decision upheld a June 2021 ruling by U.S. District

Judge Susan Illston in San Francisco.

The case is Children's Health Defense v Meta Platforms Inc ( META ),

9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, No. 21-16210.