Alex Jones has been banned from Twitter

"We will continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and we will take action if content that violates our policies is flagged or other accounts are used to attempt to circumvent their ban, "says the company. wrote.

Twitter's enforcement measures have always been opaque, and it's easy to be skeptical about the motives behind it. After all, Twitter's move came after Jones's years using his platform to spread conspiracy theories about Sandy Hook, Pizzagate, undocumented, media and many others. after Jones very public interrupted the hearings in which Dorsey participated.

But always: this definitive position after years of inaction and half-measures by a company that has long claimed to be the "wing of freedom of expression" of the party of freedom of expression. to follow the line of what is allowed while taking advantage of the platform to spread racist and dangerous opinions.

What does the Alex Jones ban mean for online speech?

And maybe it'll work. After having previously said that the bans of Twitter and Facebook would only make it "stronger", Jones saw the traffic on his site dive after the entry into force of the bans, a sign that many extremists are an effective solution to reduce their influence. . Twitter is a particularly interesting platform for Jones, as it allows him, in an authorized way, to access the mainstream media and new customers of the online store that composes them. a large part of his income.

In 2016, the provocateur of the far right and the old Breitbart News The editor Milo Yiannopoulos has been permanently banned from Twitter after leading a harassment campaign against actress Leslie Jones. Last October, Trump's former advisor, Roger Stone, was banned from Twitter for harassing and threatening several CNN presenters and commentators. In November, Twitter banned Tim Gionet, a former right-wing extremist BuzzFeed employee who used the user name @BakedAlaska, for making repeated threats and racist comments. As the New Statesman Noted last month, Google is looking for the name of Gionet greatly diminished after being banned from Twitter. Alex Jones is a larger public figure than Gionet has ever been, but he has now lost his last mainstream platform. It's a step.