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Twitter deletes some of Alex Jones, Infowars videos and tweets

Twitter joins other tech companies in removing Jones from their platforms.

Jennifer Bisset Former Senior Editor / Culture
Jennifer Bisset was a senior editor for CNET. She covered film and TV news and reviews. The movie that inspired her to want a career in film is Lost in Translation. She won Best New Journalist in 2019 at the Australian IT Journalism Awards.
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Jennifer Bisset
2 min read
Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey

Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey.

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On Wednesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended his decision not to remove Infowars and Alex Jones from the platform. On Thursday, his company deleted several of Jones' and Infowars' tweets and videos.

This was less than an hour after CNN reported that more than a dozen tweets and videos on Jones' and Infowars' Twitter accounts were in violation of Twitter's content policy.

The videos reportedly included one that centred on Parkland shooting survivor David Hogg, who Jones likened to members of the Nazi Party. He also reportedly suggested other survivors interviewed by the media were "child actors".

Another deleted video targeted transgender Americans. Jones' content on YouTube and Facebook was deleted on those platforms. However, when CNN questioned Twitter about the content on its platform, a spokesperson could only reply with Dorsey's previous statement that Jones hadn't "violated our rules."

On Thursday, after CNN made another request for comment, Twitter said it would review the content. It deleted the content the same day.

However, a spokesperson told CNN the posts weren't deleted. They were just removed while the company continue to review it.

Watch this: Why Alex Jones and Infowars were kicked off YouTube, Facebook, Apple and Spotify

Jones has recently come under the scrutiny of tech companies including YouTube, Facebook, Apple and Spotify, for his conspiracy theories, hate speech and harassment violating community policies.

On Tuesday, Dorsey defended Twitter's stance to not follow suit because Jones hadn't crossed the line on the platform. "We know that's hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn't violated our rules. We'll enforce if he does," Dorsey tweeted. "And we'll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren't artificially amplified."

The following day, Dorsey continued defending his decisions on the Sean Hannity radio show. He said that Twitter believes "in the power of free expression," but acknowledged the need "to balance that with the bad-faith actors who intentionally try to silence others."

Twitter has not yet responded to CNET's request for comment.

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