INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
Over the past two-and-a-half weeks, tech platforms have taken a (if sometimes meek) stance against the far-right and conspiracy theorist
content of Alex Jones by removing, banning or penalizing Jones and his podcast Infowars for breakingtheir community and hate speech
policies.
These removals signify an important moment in the history of the internet tug-of-war with free speech
Can a platform keep all its users safe without enforcing communities standards Can a platform keep all its users ‘free& if it does
The
conversation has really accelerated in the past few weeks, trickling down from big players like Apple to smaller platforms like Pinterest,
so we&ve compiled a list to help keep track of the developments.
YouTube
The video platform started the conversation in late February and
early March of this year when it removed a video from the channel (in which Jones referred to a victim of the Marjory Stoneman Douglas
school shooting as a ‘crisis actor&) and subsequently demonetized Jones& channel by removing ads
These two original moves came on the heels of outcry surrounding Logan Paul videos of the suicide forest and YouTube lax content
moderating.
While those strikes against Jones didn''t appear to entice any other platforms into the fray, YouTube most recent action against
himat the end of July has
On July 25th the platform removed four of Jones& videos for infringement on its hate speech and child endangerment policies
The videos contained Islamophobic and transphobic sentiments as well as the depiction of a child being shoved to the ground by an adult to
demonstrate &how to prevent liberalism.
Facebook
While the social network had previously chosento not remove inflammatory content aimed at
Special Counsel Robert Mueller from Jones& verified page, the company did chose to take action following YouTube removal of Jones& videos
On July 27 the social network removed four videos for violating its community polices against encouraging physical harm or attacks based on
someone religious affiliation or gender identity
The action resulted in a 30-day ban from posting videos on his personal Facebook and a warning for the Infowars page that Jones
moderates.
Spotify
Just over a week later, the video streaming service removed several of Jones& Infowars podcast episodes from its
platform on August 1, stating that the episodes violated the company hate content policy (which it revamped this May.) Similar to Facebook
policy, Spotify states &content whose principal purpose is to incite hatred or violence against people because of their race, religion,
disability, gender identity, or sexual orientation& is considered in violation, but not content that is offensive without intent to incite
harm.
Stitcher
Taking Spotify cue, the podcast app quickly followed with its own stance on August 2 and became one of the first platforms
to fully remove the Infowars podcast (as well as Jones& five other podcasts) from its platform instead of targeting certain episodes
In a tweet confirming the action, Stitcher said:
We have reviewed Alex Jones& podcasts and found he has, on multiple occasions, harassed or
allowed harassment of private individuals and organizations, and that harassment has led listeners of the show to engage in similar
harassment and other damaging activity
Therefore, we have decided to remove his podcasts from the Stitcher platform.
Apple
After a brief weekend lull, Apple started the week
with a bang by removing all but one of Jones& six podcasts from iTunes for violating its policies concerning hate speech, telling TechCrunch
in a statement:
Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we
provide a safe environment for all of our users
Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or
We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions
Facebook 2.0
Following
the initial ban and strike served against Jones on July 27, Facebook chimed back in on August 6, as well to announce the removal of four
related Facebook pages: the Alex Jones Channel Page; the Alex Jones Page; the Infowars Page; and the InfoWars Nightly News Page
In a statement on its site explaining the new actions, Facebook said:
Since [the original ban], more content from the same Pages has been
reported to us — upon review, we have taken it down for glorifying violence, which violates our graphic violence policy, and using
dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants, which violates our hate speech policies.
All four
Pages have been unpublished for repeated violations of Community Standards and accumulating too many strikes
While much of the discussion around Infowars has been related to false news, which is a serious issue that we are working to address by
demoting links marked wrong by fact checkers and suggesting additional content, none of the violations that spurred today removals were
related to this.
And then it all began to truly unravel.
Pinterest
Also on August 6, Pinterest took down the Infowars page on its
platform, saying in a statement:
Consistent with our existing policies, we take action against accounts that repeatedly save content that
People come to Pinterest to discover ideas for their lives, and we continue to enforce our principles to maintain a safe, useful and
inspiring experience for our users.
YouPorn
Still on the 6, the porn streaming service YouPorn announced the removal of Jones from its
platform, with vice president Charlie Hughes stating:
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.
LinkedIn
On August 7 the professional networking site announced the removal of
Jones from its platform, similarly stating:
We have removed the InfoWars company page for violating our terms of service
We value the professional community on LinkedIn and strive to create a platform where the exchange of ideas by professionals can happen
without harmful misinformation, bullying, harassment or hate.
We encourage our members to report any inappropriate content or behavior
We investigate and if it is in violation take action, which could include removing the content or suspending the account
MailChimp
And
lastly (but likely not for long) the mail messaging platform MailChimp announced on the 7 its removal of Jones from its platform,
stating:
We don''t allow people to use our platform to disseminate hateful content… We take our responsibility to our customers and
The decision to terminate this account was thoughtfully considered and is in line with our company values
So who left Three notables
standing apart from the pack are Snapchat, Instagram and Twitter, the latter of which has made statements recently defending its choice to
keep Jones on the platform based on his tweets alone and not their context
As this situation continues to boil, time will tell where these platforms will eventually land.
