Twitter Joins Other Tech Titans In Banning Alex Jones
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
After a brief suspension from Twitter, notorious conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has been permanently banned from the social media platform, Gizmodo reported.
Twitter banned both Jones’ account and that of his website Infowars, citing abusive behavior. His Twitter page had nearly 900,000 followers, and Infowars had 430,000.
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
The catalyst for the permanent suspension was an altercation between Jones and CNN reporter Oliver Darcy at Wednesday’s Senate Intelligence Committee hearing, which was live-streamed on Twitter. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey and Facebook COO Sheryl Sandberg were both testifying to Congress about online propaganda and voter manipulation. Jones said he attended to “face my accusers,” according to Gizmodo.
Facebook recently suspended Jones’ personal account for what it said was bullying and hate speech, and it removed four of his pages. Apple took down the entire library for five of his six podcasts. Some of his podcasts also were removed by Spotify.
Jones is known for claiming that the September 11 terror attacks on New York and Washington were staged by the government, as well as for his insistence that the 2012 Sandy Hook elementary school massacre was the work of left-wing activists working to promote gun control.
Alyssa Fisher is a news writer at the Forward. Email her at [email protected], or follow her on Twitter at @alyssalfisher
This is a moment of great uncertainty. Here’s what you can do about it.
We hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, we’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s independent Jewish news. All donations are still being matched by the Forward Board - up to $100,000 until April 24.
This is a moment of great uncertainty for the news media, for the Jewish people, and for our sacred democracy. It is a time of confusion and declining trust in public institutions. An era in which we need humans to report facts, conduct investigations that hold power to account, tell stories that matter and share honest discourse on all that divides us.
With no paywall or subscriptions, the Forward is entirely supported by readers like you. Every dollar you give is invested in the future of the Forward — and telling the American Jewish story fully and fairly.
The Forward doesn’t rely on funding from institutions like governments or your local Jewish federation. There are thousands of readers like you who give us $18 or $36 or $100 each month or year.
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
