Twitter says it has removed several accounts affiliated with Infowars and Alex Jones

Twitter says it has removed several accounts affiliated with Infowars and Alex Jones

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Twitter has cleared more Infowars related accounts off its platform. The company told CNN today that it permanently suspended 18 accounts affiliated with the far-right website, known for spreading misinformation and conspiracy theories, on Monday after “numerous violations and warnings.” It added the removals were in addition to five Infowars affiliated accounts that had been already been banned.

Alex Jones and Infowars, which he launched in 1999, had their accounts permanently suspended by Twitter last month, one of the last major social media platforms to do so. Infowars, however, had been using affiliated accounts to get around the ban and promote its content, according to a Daily Beast report last week. These included the accounts of Infowars’ “Real News” show, the Infowars store (which sells Jones’ line of dietary supplements) and “News Wars,” which promoted videos by Infowars. All of these accounts, and several others, were mentioned in the Daily Beast article and included in Twitter’s purge on Monday.

Alex Jones and Infowars are notorious for spreading some of the most pernicious conspiracy theories to emerge recently, including ones claiming the Sandy Hook and Parkland school shootings were faked. Their articles and videos have also frequently included racist and homophobic content and frequent calls for violence.

A wave of social media and tech companies began suspending accounts maintained by Alex Jones and Infowars in August for violating their policies on hate speech and violence. After weeks of prevarication and half-measures, including a brief temporary ban, Twitter permanently removed both @realalexjones and @infowars at the beginning of September. The list of platforms Infowars and Alex Jones are now barred from include Twitter, YouTube, Spotify, and the App Store.

TechCrunch has contacted Twitter and Infowars for comment.

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October 22, 2018 at 09:58PM