INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Streaming adult video site YouPorn, announced today that it has banned Alex Jones from its platform, following actions against the
conspiracy-monger by tech companies including Apple, Facebook, YouTube and Spotify—but notably, not Twitter
Before you go &wtf,& there were indeed (non-porn) videos with Alex Jones in them on YouPorn (people often take advantage of relatively lax
copyright policing on various porn sites to upload non-pornographic content)
YouPorn said it also removed spoof videos of Jones and will not allow him to host any content on the platform moving forward.
So naturally
the next question is…is there lots of Alex Jones content on porn sites AS IT TURNS OUT THE ANSWER IS YES PLS HELP
pic.twitter.com/WSgFUpyi2e
mdash; Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) August 6, 2018
It easy to dismiss YouPorn ban as a publicity grab, but it
underscores the fact that Twitter lack of action is became increasingly notable, even though last December it said it would take a harder
stance against hate speech
Alex Jones& verified Twitter profile, with 838,000 followers, is still up, with one of his recent tweets complaining about &being banned on
the Internet.
In a statement, YouPorn vice president Charlie Hughes said &Following news that YouTube, Spotify and Facebook have banned Alex
Jones from their platforms, team YouPorn is joining in solidarity and announces we are banning his content as well
As one of the largest user-generated content platforms in the world, we have already removed his videos that have violated our terms of
As an inclusive platform, hate has no place on YouPorn.
For those that need a refresher, Alex Jones frequently broadcasts hate speech and
played a major role in propagating some of the most harmful conspiracy theories in recent years, including Pizzagate and the debunked claim
that vaccines cause autism
His support of theories that the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings were faked resulted in harassment against the families of victims (Jones
is currently trying to get a defamation lawsuit brought against him by some Sandy Hook parents dismissed).
Yesterday, YouTube removed Alex
Jones& channel, which had 2.4 million subscribers, for violating its community guidelines, after issuing it a strike last month
On the same day, Apple removed Alex Jones& podcasts from iTunes, following similar actions from Spotify and Stitcher, and Facebook removed
four Infowars pages for violating its policies against graphic violence and hate speech
Pinterest also took down Infowars& profile following an inquiry from Mashable.
This now makes Twitter an outlier, one that apparently has
lower standards than YouPorn, which, after all, simply streams adult videos instead of arguably sheltering hate speech and bullies
With many of his most active social media outlets removed or suspended, Jones now has two main platforms: the Infowars site and
Twitter.
Twitter has promised to do a better job of protecting users, but a lot of its actions come across as more hemming and hawing while
real damage is being done through its platform (for example, President Donald Trump retweeting Islamophobic posts from the deputy leader of
hate group Britain First account, which Twitter only suspended three weeks later despite massive uproar and concern that it would trigger
more violence and harassment against Muslims).
With Apple (now America largest company by market capitalization), some of the biggest social
media platforms and even YouPorn taking a stand against Alex Jones and Infowars, the pressure on Twitter is increasing
TechCrunch has reached out to Twitter and Infowars for comment.
