Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey was on Capitol Hill on Wednesday to answer questions about the platform’s supposed targeting of conservative/right-leaning accounts. Dorsey denied there was any intentional bias against conservative points of view and reiterated that his social media platform remains dedicated to “facilitating” thoughtful discussion.
Internet provocateur Alex Jones has had plenty of issues with the platform in the past, even being suspended for a week at one point. However, Jack Dorsey responded to calls to ban Jones permanently by saying the Infowars personality had not actually violated any rules.
That all changed on Thursday when the official Twitter Safety account tweeted that they had permanently banned Alex Jones and Infowars.
Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
As we continue to increase transparency around our rules and enforcement actions, we wanted to be open about this action given the broad interest in this case. We do not typically comment on enforcement actions we take against individual accounts, for their privacy.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
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
The move comes on the heels of Jones’ outraged confrontation of CNN reporter Oliver Darcy at the hearings on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. There is not official indication that the incident had anything to do with Jones’ ultimate suspension.
As usual, the parameters of Twitter’s “conduct policy” are vague. Will they suspend average users who share Jones’ material or statements?
Dorsey and Twitter may be in the weeds on this one.
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