RFK Jr Fails to Convince Users That a Database of People With Autism Would Be 'Protected': 'How Can He Be Trusted?'

Social media users have cast doubt upon Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s plan to create a national autism database, questioning whether or not those added to the database would have their privacy protected.

RFK Jr. appeared on "The Ingraham Angle" on Monday where he voiced his support for creating a database in order to track the presence of "existential disease" across the nation.

"[This affects] one in every 31 kids today. In California, which has the best database, it's one in every 20 children, one in every 12.5 boys. This is an existential disease. Every other disease like this has a registry, and it's voluntary, so that public health officials can monitor the numbers," RFK Jr. began, speaking about the number of autism diagnoses across the nation.

"It's not information that is going to go out to other agencies. It's a voluntary system where your privacy is protected. Just a system for keeping track of a disease that is now becoming debilitating for the American people," he continued.

Despite the secretary's promise, social media users quickly took to online platforms to cast doubt upon the plan for a database, indicating that such a roster could be weaponized against people with autism.

"They're going to protect the information the same way social security protected our information from Elon," said one user.

"Privacy protected? Elon wants access to everything," said another.

"Yeah, your privacy is protected until it's not..." wrote a third.

"How can he or any of the current USA administration be trusted?" another added.

Scholars, researchers and advocates for those with autism have also pushed back on the idea of a national autism database. The Department of Health and Human Services, led by RFK Jr., has repeatedly denied that such a database would be used as a registry for discrimination, but many are not convinced.

"They're saying it's not an autism registry, but it sounds like they kind of just changed the name of it," Amy Marschall, an autistic psychologist, told The Guardian.

"And at worst, I worry that we're on a slippery slope to eugenics," Ryan Smith, who created a petition against the database, told the outlet. "My mind immediately goes to history and things that happened in Nazi Germany. That's extreme, but it feels like a possibility."