Facebook removes Alex Jones pages for hate, bullying

Major tech companies have begun to ban right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from their services, reflecting a more aggressive enforcement of policies against hate speech following protests on social media.

Facebook has taken down four pages belonging to Jones, including two featuring his “Infowars” show, for violating its hate speech and bullying policies. Over the past several days, both Apple and Spotify have also removed material published by Jones. Twitter has faced similar calls, but has so far taken no action against Jones.

Facebook said in a statement Monday that it has also suspended Jones’ account for 30 days because he repeatedly violated the company’s community standards against hate speech that “attacks or dehumanizes others.” Facebook did not immediately respond Monday asking what would happen after the 30 days are up, and why it hadn’t taken action earlier. The 30-day suspension of Jones himself appears to have gone into effect in late July.

Twitter did not immediately respond to a message for comment Monday. YouTube said in a statement that when users violate its policies against hate speech and harassment, “we terminate their accounts.” But the company did not give specifics on Jones or Infowars.

It’s unclear why the companies are cracking down on Jones now, after allowing him to publish for years. Facebook has been under fire recently for not banning Jones, but as recently as July 12 it tweeted that it sees pages “on both the left and right pumping out what they consider opinion or analysis – but others call fake news.”

“We believe banning these Pages would be contrary to the basic principles of free speech,” Facebook posted in response to a question from CNN reported Oliver Darcy, who had been pressing the company on why it continued to allow “Infowars” on its platform.