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NEW YORK (AP) – Twitter has definitively banned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his show Infowars for abusive behavior, a day after CEO Jack Dorsey testified before Congress about alleged bias against conservatives on the platform .
The company said Jones would not be able to create new accounts on Twitter or acquire existing accounts. In a tweet, he stated that he would continue to monitor reports regarding other accounts potentially associated with Jones or Infowars, and that he would "act" when he discovered attempts to bypass l & # 39; ban.
Twitter said Jones released Wednesday a video that violates the company's policy against "abusive behavior". This video shows Jones, who criticized CNN reporter Oliver Darcy for about 10 minutes between congressional social media hearings. Dorsey testified at both hearings, but did not appear to witness the confrontation.
Jones had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000 people. Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
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 Jones's muzzling. Other tech companies have limited Jones by suspending him for extended periods, such as Facebook, and deleting his pages and radio stations.
Jones heckled Darcy in a Capitol corridor where reporters were waiting to enter the meeting room of the House. He criticized the journalist's reporting and appearance, referring to his "skinny jeans" and repeatedly repeating "just look at this guy's eyes" and "look at that smile."
At one point, he said Darcy "smiled like an object crawling out of the back of a dead cow, that's what you look like, it's a public figure too."
Darcy aggressively questioned the social media companies about the abstention they showed Jones, asking why they allowed him to stay on their platforms as long as they did.
Jones is currently active on Facebook; his personal suspension has recently expired. Apple, YouTube and Spotify have also permanently removed Jones' published documents. Facebook did not immediately respond to a message asking if this would also ban Jones.
Dorsey initially defended his company's decision not to ban Jones, tweeting that Jones "did not violate our rules" but he does, "we will enforce".
"We are going to keep Jones at the same level as all our accounts, by not taking punctual measures to feel good in the short term and by feeding the new theories of conspiracy," tweeted Dorsey on August 7. after the other companies took action against Jones.
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."
But critics warn that there is another side to high-profile cases like this one.
"We should be extremely cautious before rushing to adopt a moderated Internet by private companies by default," said David Greene, director of civil liberties at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in an email last month. While highly publicized cases of highly offensive content are attracting a lot of attention, he added, the moderation of content "continues to silence" the voices of people around the world struggling to be heard.
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Mary Clare Jalonick, an Associated Press reporter, contributed to this story from Washington; AP technology writer Ryan Nakashima contributed from San Francisco.
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