YouTube has joined the likes of Facebook, Apple and Spotify to remove radio show host and podcaster Alex Jones from their services.
Alex Jones’ content, known for his wild outbursts and conspiracy theories, have been removed from the platforms citing community guidelines against hate speech, Vice News reports.
Apple was the first to remove Jones’ shows and podcasts from its services, such as the shows InfoWars, War Room and his Alex Jones Show podcast.
Facebook, YouTube and Spotify have also removed the controversial host’s content.
The removal of his videos on YouTube will undoubtedly impact Jones the most, as it had nearly 2.5 million subscribers and had amassed more than 1 billion views since it was started.
A spokesperson for YouTube told BuzzFeed News:
When users violate [YouTube’s terms and policies] repeatedly, like our policies against hate speech and harassment of our terms prohibiting circumvention of our enforcement measures, we terminate their accounts.
A spokesperson for Apple said:
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 streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions.
Facebook also confirmed today, Monday August 6, that it had removed a number of pages promoting the radio host and his shows including the Alex Jones Channel Page, the Alex Jones Page, the Infowars Nightly News Page and the Infowars Page.
In a press release from Facebook, a spokesperson said:
We believe in giving people a voice, but we also want everyone using Facebook to feel safe. It’s why we have Community Standards and remove anything that violates them, including hate speech that attacks or dehumanizes others.
Earlier today, we removed four Pages belonging to Alex Jones for repeatedly posting content over the past several days that breaks those Community Standards.
Facebook initially removed four of Jones’ videos last week for violating their hate speech and bullying policies, and Jones was given a 30-day block for his role in posting the content.
However, the social media site has now taken further action, saying:
Since then, 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.
Jones himself has responded in the only way he knows – with another show on InfoWars about being banned on the internet.
Jones is currently being sued by the parents of children murdered in the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, as he claims the attack was a hoax, reports The Guardian.
At the moment, Twitter is yet to ban Jones from its site, where he has a ‘verified’ account.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via stories@unilad.co.uk
Charlie Cocksedge is a journalist and sub-editor at UNILAD. He graduated from the University of Manchester with an MA in Creative Writing, where he learnt how to write in the third person, before getting his NCTJ. His work has also appeared in such places as The Guardian, PN Review and the bin.