After Youtube, Spotify, Apple and Pinterest each removed videos and channels from “InfoWars” host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Twitter became the only major social media platform to continue hosting Jones’ content.
Twitter has no plans to remove Jones from its platform, and a person with direct knowledge of how Twitter is handling the situation said InfoWars is not currently in violation of the company’s policies.
Nonetheless, Twitter’s refusal to kick Jones out has sparked a debate — you guessed it — on Twitter, and the hashtag #BanAlexJones began gaining steam on Monday afternoon, the same day the top Twitter trend for the most part of the day in the U.S. was, more simply, “Alex Jones.”
Here are some of the users calling on Twitter to follow suit with other big tech companies and ban Jones.
If Alex Jones doesn’t violate your rules, you need better rules.
— Mike Monteiro, cisgender male (@monteiro) August 6, 2018
YouTube banned Alex Jones.
Facebook banned Alex Jones.
Apple banned Alex Jones.What's the deal @Twitter?
— JoeMyGod (@JoeMyGod) August 6, 2018
Twitter has a choice.
They can act with Facebook, YouTube and Apple and ALSO ban Alex Jones.
Or they can do nothing. Which will devastate all the work Twitter has done to combat hate speech on their platform.
The world is watching, @jack. Don’t undermine the work you’ve done.
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) August 6, 2018
One last thing.
It is unquestionable that banning Milo Yianopoulus from Twitter harmed his career. He’s barely in mainstream media anymore. He lost his platform for shock tactics.
Banning Alex Jones would also affect him. This tactic works.
— Brianna Wu (@BriannaWu) August 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/kabyber/status/1026531183444860928
https://twitter.com/Jeremy__Kennedy/status/1026526613658370048
https://twitter.com/RationalAgency/status/1026591667472625664
@twitter What say you Jack Dorsey? Its time for all social platforms to ban hate speech from Alex Jones and his type. If you won't, maybe its time for all of us to delete our accounts. #BoycottTwitter ??? America and the world are watching. https://t.co/cDNXvHAnBT
— STAND UP TO BULLIES AND CALL OUT CREEPS #Harris24 (@NaplesLeslie) August 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/AdotHam97/status/1026599594736537600
Morning, @jack. Spotify, Apple, Facebook, and YouTube have all banned Alex Jones. In the interest of transparency, which you are fond of telling us is important to you, please tell us why @twitter has not.
— Mike Monteiro, cisgender male (@monteiro) August 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/chiarabtownley/status/1026575136877465600
Facebook: We have banned Infowars
Apple: We have banned Infowars
Twitter: Your account has been banned for tweeting “Sandy Hook really happened you idiot” at @UnJewTheMedia
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) August 6, 2018
If I violated the rules of Twitter, Google and/or Facebook because I made vile comments and threats of violence towards the parents of slain children, would the people saying that it is wrong to ban Alex Jones defend me as well? I doubt it — and rightfully so.
— Jeremy Hague (@jedwardhague) August 6, 2018
I feel like Twitter didn’t ban Alex Jones just so we’d have a place to watch him have a meltdown – or maybe because they’re ok with enabling bigotry. It’s one of the two.
— Evan J'daté Kessler (@EvanJKessler) August 6, 2018
https://twitter.com/GIIOZT/status/1026598685843566592
Others argued that banning Jones would represent a violation of free speech.
It is wrong to ban him, because banning people is stupid and tyrannical. Free speech means the right to say what those in power don't like, or it's not free speech at all. It's not my place to defend Alex Jones, but I will defend free speech and a free society.
— RevJamesP. (@RevJamesP) August 6, 2018
This is not the first time Twitter has been criticized for how it polices content and behavior on its platform. The company has often been rebuked for allowing white supremacists and other perpetrators of hate speech to maintain a presence on the platform — and verifying them as legitimate accounts. But the platform has also caught backlash for its policing, namely, when it temporarily blocked actress Rose McGowan, an accuser and vocal critic of Harvey Weinstein, after she included a phone number in her tweets.