TWTR Twitter Inc

By Tripp Mickle 

Twitter Inc. on Tuesday suspended the far-right talk-show host Alex Jones for violating the social media company's policies, a reversal amid intensifying public scrutiny and criticism of Mr. Jones's posts on the platform.

Mr. Jones will be blocked from posting on Twitter for seven days because of an offending tweet, the company said. Twitter declined to comment on the content that violated its policies, but in a note to Mr. Jones it said a tweet about taking action against web censorship included a link to a video that violated the company's policy against targeted harassment of someone or inciting others to intimidate or harass someone.

Mr. Jones couldn't immediately be reached for comment.

Twitter's move came more than a week after technology companies, including Apple Inc., YouTube and Facebook Inc. removed content from Mr. Jones or his far-right site, Infowars. The actions against Infowars intensified a growing debate over what role tech companies play in policing controversial content on their platforms while they simultaneously support the principle of free speech.

The conspiracy theories promoted by Mr. Jones and Infowars have been at the the center of the tech industry debate. Earlier this year, parents of two children killed in the 2012 Newtown, Conn., elementary-school shooting massacre sued Mr. Jones, saying he repeatedly called the shooting fake and accused them of taking part in a hoax designed to promote gun control. Mr. Jones described the lawsuit as frivolous.

As Apple removed links to some Infowars podcasts and YouTube terminated some of its channels, Twitter's Chief Executive Jack Dorsey said his company didn't remove Mr. Jones or Infowars because neither had violated the platform's policies.

"We're going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories," Mr. Dorsey said in a tweet last week. He later added that it was critical that journalists "document, validate and refute" accounts like those of Mr. Jones, which "can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors."

As of late Tuesday, Mr. Dorsey hadn't Tweeted about Mr. Jones's suspension.

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 14, 2018 23:47 ET (03:47 GMT)

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