On April 16th, Twitter suspended at least four accounts tied to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Among those suspended was InfoWars personality Owen Shroyer, who had recently used Twitter to promote a rally in Austin, Texas against the state’s stay-at-home order. Shroyer has used his accounts to discredit reports that hospitals are overwhelmed by coronavirus patients, though his account was not removed for this reason.
Twitter told Right Wing Watch, a site that reports on right-wing extremists, that the accounts were suspended because they had violated the company’s “manipulation and spam policy” which prohibits creating accounts with the purpose to “replace or mimic a suspended account.”
In September 2018, the social media company permanently suspended Alex Jones and Infowars from their platform for violating the company’s policy on “abusive behavior,” which prohibits the targeted harassment of an individual.
We will continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and will take action if content that violates our rules is reported or if other accounts are utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
Facebook, Apple, YouTube, and Spotify have each imposed similar bans on Jones and his website for a variety of reasons.
But Jones and Infowars have found ways to circumvent the many social media bans imposed on them. According to Right Wing Watch, Infowars evade bans by creating “satellite properties” that share Infowars content without Infowars branding.
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