Facebook, others unfriend Infowars’ Alex Jones

Social media platforms are cracking down on Infowars’ Alex Jones. Facebook announced Monday it had deleted pages belonging to Jones and suspended his account, while YouTube, Spotify, and Apple removed videos and podcasts he created. Jones’ followers consider him a journalist and commentator who tells stories the mainstream media ignore, while others call him a conspiracy theorist who incites violence. The social media platforms that banished him said he violated their terms of service for hate speech. The decision followed campaigns against Jones by liberal groups and the families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting. Jones in the past covered conspiracy theories about the massacre, including calling it a hoax, but he has since acknowledged that the shooting occurred.

Conservative commentators and think tanks warn that the silencing of Jones could foreshadow a broader censorship trend. “[It’s] a dangerous cliff that these social media companies are jumping off to satisfy CNN and other liberal outlets,” the Media Research Center’s Brent Bozell said in a statement. “Social media sites are supposedly neutral platforms, but they are increasingly becoming opportunities for the left and major media to censor any content that they don’t like.”