The ban on Twitter by Alex Jones raises questions about consistency

Twitter's ongoing ban on conspiracy author Alex Jones has once again highlighted the difficulty many social media services face in systematically enforcing their rules against harassment and other misconduct.

The platform took action against Jones and his show Infowars for "abusive behavior", referring to videos posted Wednesday that blamed him for about ten minutes to CNN reporter Oliver Darcy.

Jones has behaved badly before – calling the survivors of a shootout in Parkland, Fla., "Crisis actors" and saying that the massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012 was false. Videos from the last exchange show that Jones calls Darcy "a possum that came out of the back of a dead cow", referring to his "skinny jeans" and repeatedly saying, "Just look at the eyes like this and look at that smile. "

The action follows the movements of Facebook, YouTube, Apple and Spotify to limit or remove Jones' material from their services. But Twitter has gone one step further by saying that it will continue to monitor reports on other accounts potentially associated with Jones or Infowars and that it will "take action" if it uncovers attempts to circumvent the ban.

Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment. He had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000 people.

New Jersey Democratic Rep. Frank Pallone praised the action of Twitter in a tweet. "Glad Twitter is taking action to stop the abusive behavior of Alex Jones & Infowars," the tweet said. "Tweets designed to threaten, belittle, belittle and silence people have no place on this platform."

Twitter had already suspended Jones for a week, but until now, he had resisted the muzzling. Other tech companies have limited Jones by suspending him for longer periods and deleting his pages and podcasts.

Critics said that there was still a lack of transparency on how large platforms are executing their policies. Media Matters for America, a non-profit organization dedicated to criticizing conservative media, said the decision was "about time" but also noted that the behavior was "comparable to that of the course" for Jones.

David Greene, director of civil liberties at the Electronic Frontier Foundation, said Jones's ban was almost a distraction for a real debate, he said, on how content should be moderated on platforms controlled by a few companies. giant.

"What he posted yesterday really crossed the line, as opposed to other things, I do not know," Greene said.

The EFF supports a series of content moderation principles for all social media companies that request disclosure of numbers on application metrics, clear notifications of users explaining when and why their messages are deleted and a process for appeal to be revised.

Jones heckled Darcy in a Capitol Hallway where reporters were waiting to enter the House committee where Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was to appear. Jones would later have tried to drive Dorsey out of the building.

Critics on Twitter itself have drawn attention to the timing of the move.

"Alex Jones has been allowed to harass Sandy Hook's parents for six years without repercussions," tweeted a user. "He harassed Jack Dorsey for a day and was banned from Twitter."

Jones still posts on the Alex Jones Facebook page, his personal suspension having recently expired. He posted a video that included part of the exchange with Darcy on Thursday afternoon. Posts later in the afternoon acknowledged his ban on Twitter and urged his supporters to find him elsewhere online.

A spokesman for Facebook said the company would "continue to review reports" of people on Facebook and would act in accordance with its community standards.

Dorsey had already defended his company's decision not to ban Jones, tweeting last month that Jones "did not break our rules" but if he did, "we would enforce."

But a week later, Twitter joined the other tech companies to muzzle Jones, even if it was only for a week. It was a significant gesture for a company that one of its leaders once called "the wing of freedom of expression."