Here’s why the Infowars app was banned by Apple
Apple said that it had banned from its App Store the Infowars app belonging to popular US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones after finding that it had violated the company’s rules against “objectionable content”.
The move makes Apple the latest tech company or social media platform to take action against Jones, a deeply controversial right- wing radio talkshow host who has suggested that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax, among other sensational claims.
Apple said the guidelines Jones violated bar “defamatory, discriminatory, or mean- spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ ethnic origin, or other targeted groups, particularly if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or place a targeted individual or group in harm’s way.”
Last week, Twitter permanently banned Jones and his website from its platform and Periscope, saying in a tweet that the accounts had violated its behaviour policies.
In a video posted on the Infowars website on Thursday, Jones said in response: “I was taken down not because we lied but because we tell the truth and because we were popular.” Last month, Twitter banned Jones and Infowars for seven days, citing tweets that it said violated the company’s rules against abusive behaviour, which state that a user may not engage in targeted harassment of someone or incite other people to do so.