Twitter finally acts on Alex Jones – by banning Infowars host for just a week and still keeping his tweets up

CEO Jack Dorsey previously said that Jones had not broken any of his site's rules

Andrew Griffin
Wednesday 15 August 2018 09:55 BST
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Alex Jones, an American radio host, author and conspiracy theorist, addresses media and protesters in the protester encampment outside The Grove hotel, which is hosting the annual Bilderberg conference, on June 6, 2013 in Watford, England
Alex Jones, an American radio host, author and conspiracy theorist, addresses media and protesters in the protester encampment outside The Grove hotel, which is hosting the annual Bilderberg conference, on June 6, 2013 in Watford, England (Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

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Twitter has finally acted on Alex Jones – though in perhaps the most minimal way it possibly could.

The controversial Infowars host, who has used his platform to attack the relatives of children killed at Sandy Hook among other controversies, has now been banned from the site.

But the punishment will only last for a week and his tweets will all still stay online.

A screenshot has been shared across Twitter, informing Mr Jones that he has violated the company's rules against abusive behaviour and will have his account features limited for seven days.

Although Mr Jones will be unable to tweet anything new for the duration of the enforcement, his page and existing tweets will remain visible.

A Twitter spokesman said the account had been put into read-only mode because of tweets containing a broadcast in violation of their rules, which it wants Mr Jones to delete.

However, the separate InfoWars account remains active.

The move follows weeks of pressure on Twitter to follow other tech companies, including Facebook and YouTube, in banning some of Mr Jones' content.

Twitter's chief executive, Jack Dorsey, had previously said the conspiracy theorist would not be banned because he was yet to breach any rules.

"We know that's hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn't violated our rules," Mr Dorsey said last week.

"We'll enforce if he does. And we'll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren't artificially amplified."

Mr Jones, who has some 889,000 followers, claims the Sandy Hook Elementary School gun attack was a hoax, leading to legal action against him from the families of some of the victims.

Additional reporting by Press Association

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