Twitter Permanently Bans Alex Jones and Infowars
It’s official: Twitter has permanently banned conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website Infowars.
The ban comes one month after Facebook, YouTube and Apple removed Jones and Infowars’ accounts from their platforms, raising pressure on Twitter to follow suit.
Despite that pressure, Twitter insisted that Jones and his website had not violated their terms. Jones was suspended for one week after he posted a video urging his followers to take up “battle rifles” against the media and Antifa.
“Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope,” Twitter Safety posted in a statement. “We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations.”
Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
We will continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and will take action if content that violates our rules is reported or if other accounts are utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
The ban comes one day after CNN’s Oliver Darcy was berated by Jones on Capitol Hill, during congressional hearings with social media chiefs. The aggressive encounter was filmed by Jones on Periscope, which is owned by Twitter.
Darcy wasn’t the only person Jones accosted. He almost came to blows with Sen. Marco Rubio, and yelled at Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg.
This story is breaking and will be updated…
