Twitter has temporarily suspended the account of Alex Jones after the conspiracy theorist tweeted a link to a video calling on supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready and prepare to “act on the enemy.” The video, posted by Jones to live-streaming site Periscope, which is also owned by Twitter, reportedly broke the company’s rules against inciting violence. 
 
 The suspension will last seven days, according to The New York Times, and it’s the strongest censure of Jones yet by the microblogging site. For the duration of the suspension, Jones’ account will be in “read-only” mode. He’ll be able to access the account, but he won’t be able to tweet, retweet, or favorite others’ posts. Accounts run by Jones and his colleagues for conspiracy site Infowars are unaffected by the suspension. 
 
 Twitter has been a notable holdout in continuing to give Jones a platform 
 
 The news comes after a string of online bans for Jones. Over the past few weeks, companies including Apple, Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, and Vimeo have all taken down content created by Jones and Infowars or banned his accounts outright. In most cases, Jones was banned for hate speech against minorities or for inciting violence. 
 
 Up until now, Twitter has been a notable holdout. The company, which once described itself as the “free speech wing of the free speech party,” has admitted that Jones has violated its rules multiple times, but, for poorly defined reasons, it has preferred to avoid the responsibility of enforcing its own policy. 
 
 Last week in a series of tweets, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey defended the platform’s decision to allow Jones to continue posting. “We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday,” said Dorsey. “We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified.” 
 
 This line has apparently been crossed, but the effects of this suspension are still limited. Although unable to post under his own name, Jones has simply switched to his @infowars account, sharing a video where he said censorship of his videos would only increase his support. “This is a very positive thing that’s happening,” said Jones. “We’re going to win.” ||||| Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey took to the website last night to explain why they decided not to ban Alex Jones and InfoWars. 
 
 Jones's conspiracy theory website had been notably banned from several social media sites and platforms, including Facebook, YouTube, Spotify and Apple. 
 
 However, his account remains on Twitter as he hadn't violated the terms of service, as his content doesn't actually reside on the website, but is instead hosted a click away, elsewhere online. 
 
 Although Jones has been banned elsehwere for 'spreading hate speech' and conspiracy theories, he has apparently not violated Twitter's terms on 'Abuse' and 'Hateful content' which read as follows: 
 
 Abuse: You may not engage in the targeted harassment of someone, or incite other people to do so. We consider abusive behaviour an attempt to harass, intimidate, or silence someone else’s voice. Hateful content: You may not promote violence against, threaten, or harass other people on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease. 
 
 Dorsey attempted to clarify Twitter's position on Alex Jones in a thread, which didn't exactly make things crystal clear. 
 
 We didn’t suspend Alex Jones or Infowars yesterday. We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules. We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified. — jack (@jack) August 8, 2018 Truth is we’ve been terrible at explaining our decisions in the past. We’re fixing that. 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. — jack (@jack) August 8, 2018 If we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service that’s constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That’s not us. — jack (@jack) August 8, 2018 Accounts like Jones' can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors, so it’s critical journalists document, validate, and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions. This is what serves the public conversation best. — jack (@jack) August 8, 2018 
 
 Since Dorsey posted these tweets other Twitter users have been asking why some accounts have been suspended in the past for far lesser crimes, such as changing their username to 'Elon Musk.' 
 
 You guys were suspending people for changing their screen name to "Elon Musk" https://t.co/IRzZ9YqZot — Andrew Lawrence (@ndrew_lawrence) August 8, 2018 Please say this to the Sandy Hook parents in person. Explain to their faces why you ban comedy Elon Musk accounts but not the man who persecuted them with malicious falsehoods after their children were gunned down. — Susanna Forrest (@Susanna_Forrest) August 8, 2018 So you'll ban anyone using "Elon Musk" in their name or calling out what Alex Jones talks about, but you won't boot the mouth piece? Right. https://t.co/JKwpV1z8IJ — Zack Reese (@zackreese) August 8, 2018 If Alex Jones called himself Elon Musk you'd ban him. God you're awful https://t.co/UXXmyNGQOk — Eboni (@CocoaGoddess) August 8, 2018 .@jack You make me sick to my stomach. Alex Jones has led a campaign to harass the parents of murdered children and you help him do it because it makes you money. 
 
 
 
 You profit from the dead. 
 
 
 
 But you ban people making fun on Elon Musk instead. — Fat Boy: The World's Fattest Boy. (@TheChrisVaughn) August 8, 2018 
 
 Give yourself a funny Elon Musk name: locked 
 
 
 
 Tell a nazi that the nazi things hes tweeting from his nazi phone are what a nazi would say: locked 
 
 
 
 Alex Jones sending legions of his morons to torment parents of dead preschoolers: ain't no rule that says a dog cant play basketball https://t.co/TEYQOfjYIq — Jesse 🏳️‍🌈 (@TurboBurpo) August 8, 2018 I love that Twitter is the only platform that won’t suspend Alex Jones but the rest of us will get suspended for tweeting “Elon Musk thinks Chicken McNuggets are too spicy” — Online Participant (@SortaBad) August 7, 2018 
 
 The 'Elon Musk' trend was merely an attempt by pranksters to mock the billionaire entrepreneur, but multiple accounts were shut down soon after they made the change. 
 
 Twitter decided to ban the profiles on the basis that they could be cryptocurrency scammers who were using Musk's name to reply to tweets in the hope that they could exploit others innocence. 
 
 In a statement given to The Verge Twitter explained that this policy was in keeping with their new attempts to eradicate spam from the site. 
 
 As part of our continuing efforts to combat spam and malicious activity on our service, we’re testing new measures to challenge accounts that use terms commonly associated with spam campaigns. We are continually refining these detections based on changes in spammy activity. 
 
 Twitter's official line on impersonation is as follows: 
 
 You may not impersonate individuals, groups, or organizations in a manner that is intended to or does mislead, confuse, or deceive others. While you may maintain parody, fan, commentary, or newsfeed accounts, you may not do so if the intent of the account is to engage in spamming or abusive behaviour. 
 
 It's arguable that Jones' controversial rhetoric which includes claiming that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax is worst than a little joke at the expense of a very rich man but then again this is a website that refused to ban Donald Trump after he threatened to start a nuclear war. 
 
 More: Trump and Donald Jr peddle debunked Twitter 'shadow ban' conspiracy theory ||||| Before Twitter suspended Alex Jones, Infowars was already directing users to Tumblr 
 
 CLOSE Facebook says it has taken down four pages belonging to rightwing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for violating its hate speech and bullying policies. The Infowars YouTube channel was also terminated. (Aug. 6) AP 
 
 Alex Jones and his brand Infowars were purged from many major social media sites over the last week. Just a few Infowars accounts online remain. (Photo: Tamir Kalifa, AP) 
 
 SAN FRANCISCO – Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones won't get to tweet for a week. But even before the mild sanctioning from the social media service, his Infowars account had been directing users to another social media platform – Verizon-owned Tumblr. 
 
 Starting last Tuesday, Twitter suspended the personal account of the "Infowars" host for violating the social media company's rules against inciting violence after Jones tweeted a link to a video on Twitter's Periscope service calling for supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready against media and "antifa" activists. 
 
 Twitter said in a statement that Jones' account "currently has limited functionality." Jones was told the account would regain full functionality seven days after the removal of a tweet with "a broadcast in violation of our rules." 
 
 The one-week suspension will prevent Jones from tweeting or retweeting, though he will be able to browse Twitter. The Twitter account for his “Infowars” show remains active. 
 
 In an interview Wednesday with NBC News' Lester Holt, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey called the suspension a "timeout." 
 
 "I feel any suspension, whether it be a permanent or a temporary one, makes someone think about their actions and their behaviors,” Dorsey said. 
 
 Dorsey also said that Twitter has been consistent in its enforcement of rules in Jones' case, while other companies have been "a little bit inconsistent." 
 
 The enforcement applies to both Jones' Twitter and Periscope accounts. 
 
 Jones, a far-right pundit and provocateur, has promoted widely debunked theories. Among other things, he said the Sandy Hook Elementary School murders were staged, and he said survivors of the Parkland, Florida, high school shooting were actors. 
 
 He has a large following on social media, including 889,000 followers on Twitter. And he has been praised by President Donald Trump, who appeared on "InfoWars" during the 2016 presidential campaign. 
 
 Infowars had already been directing followers to yet another site – Tumblr. 
 
 "They can take our Facebook, Apple, Spotify, Tunein, Youtube, Stitcher, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Flickr, Vimeo, Sprout, Mailchimp & Disqus but they'll never take our...........Tumblr!" Infowars tweeted Tuesday. The tweet includes a link to the Infowars Tumblr page. 
 
 They can take our Facebook, Apple, Spotify, Tunein, Youtube, Stitcher, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Flickr, Vimeo, Sprout, Mailchimp & Disqus but they'll never take our...........Tumblr! 🤣🤣🤣 
 
 
 
 Get the free app while you still can: https://t.co/vm914ii1lhhttps://t.co/BifgnMVgS5pic.twitter.com/d1BEhEHGK8 — infowars (@infowars) August 14, 2018 
 
 Even as they vow to halt the spread of fake news, the major tech platforms that host social media services have been loathe to eliminate users for promoting debunked theories. Instead, they have leaned on other policies to curtail these activities. 
 
 Google-owned YouTube terminated his account for violating community guidelines. Facebook removed pages for violating the social network's policy against hate speech. Apple took down his podcasts because the company "does not tolerate hate speech." The Infowars app is still available on Apple's App Store and Google's Google Play. 
 
 Until Tuesday, despite mounting complaints that it had been ignoring Jones' violations of policies, Twitter had maintained he had done nothing wrong. 
 
 The halting moves to stem Jones' social media distribution has intensified a discussion about how these powerful platforms, which haven taken the place of traditional media for many Americans, decide what content users see. While many have lauded Facebook, Apple and others for removing his content, others have warned allowing platforms to moderate speech based on objectionable content is a slippery slope by companies that have a reputation for applying rules about speech unevenly. 
 
 Jones has used the moves as a battle cry, calling the purge of his online accounts a conspiracy by "big tech" to censor conservative viewpoints ahead of the 2018 midterm election and 2020 presidential election. 
 
 He has directed users to other outlets. The Infowars Tumblr page includes links to Infowars-related sites such as newswars.com and prisonplanet.com. Tumblr is a blogging and social media platform owned by Oath Inc., a subsidiary of Verizon. 
 
 Tumblr did not respond to a request for comment. 
 
 Jones continues to stream his show live on Infowars.com. His accounts on lesser-known social media sites, which are known to be popular among the alt-right, remain live as well. 
 
 Mike Snider contributed to this report. 
 
 Read or Share this story: https://usat.ly/2MOIlsr ||||| Twitter said Friday that the accounts belonging to far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his fringe media organization InfoWars would, for now, remain online, one day after a CNN investigation found that Jones' Twitter accounts appeared to have repeatedly violated the company's rules. 
 
 A Twitter spokesperson said that the company concluded that of the more than a dozen tweets included in CNN's Thursday report, seven were found to have violated Twitter's rules. Twitter would have required those tweets to be deleted, if they were to have remained up. 
 
 But after CNN's investigation was published, the tweets cited in it were almost immediately deleted from the social media website. Jones said on his program Friday that he had instructed his staff to do so and "take the super high road," though he contested whether the tweets violated any Twitter rules. 
 
 Among the seven tweets found to have violated Twitter's rules, the spokesperson said, two of the tweets occurred recently enough that Twitter could cite them in the future to take additional punitive action against Jones' accounts. 
 
 The other five tweets occurred before a set of bolstered Twitter rules were put into place in December 2017. While Twitter required those tweets be deleted, the company cannot use them as grounds to take further action against the accounts, the spokesperson said. 
 
 The Twitter spokesperson was not immediately able to provide CNN with the specific tweets the company had determined to have violated its rules. 
 
 "We will continue to review any content that is flagged to us and take action as appropriate," the Twitter spokesperson said. 
 
 CNN's investigation found that InfoWars' and Jones' Twitter accounts had published content that degraded groups of people on the basis of their religion and gender identity, engaged in the harassment of individuals, glorified violence, and promoted conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook and Parkland shootings. 
 
 Previously, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey had maintained that Jones and InfoWars had not "violated our rules." He had vowed, "We'll enforce if he does." 
 
 CNN's examination of Jones' and InfoWars' accounts also found that the same content that led other tech companies to take action against Jones had been posted on Twitter by both Jones and InfoWars. Earlier in the week, a Twitter executive strongly suggested such content had not been posted, and said that had it been posted, it would have "violated our policies" and "we would have taken action." 
 
 The Twitter spokesperson said Friday that the executive, Del Harvey, had only intended to specifically reference Jones' personal account, not the InfoWars account as well, and that the company should have "been more explicit about that." 
 
 Twitter is one of the only major social media companies that has not scrubbed its platform of Jones or InfoWars in the last week. Since Sunday, Jones has seen the vast majority of the social media infrastructure for his media empire crumble. Apple has removed the full library of his podcasts, Facebook has unpublished his pages, YouTube terminated his account, and other technology companies took similar action. InfoWars apps remain available through the Google Play store and Apple's app store, however. ||||| Twitter has permanently banned the accounts of right-wing conspiracy theorist and radio host Alex Jones and InfoWars for violating the company's abusive behavior policies, the company said Thursday. 
 
 The ban appears to be related to a heated exchange between Jones and a CNN reporter Wednesday, which Jones live-streamed on the Twitter-owned video service Periscope. Jones ranted at the reporter, as well as Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, following back-to-back congressional hearings where Dorsey addressed online election interference, as well as accusations of political bias and conservative censorship on the platform. 
 
 "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," the company said in a series of tweets. "We wanted to be open about this action given the broad interest in this case." 
 
 The ban comes weeks after Jones' accounts were removed or suspended by other major tech companies including Apple, Facebook and YouTube. Twitter had initially declined to take disciplinary action against Jones, saying the accounts had not violated community guidelines, but later suspended him from posting on his accounts for a period of seven days. 
 
 Accounts for Jones and Infowars were also banned from Periscope. Jones will not be able to recreate his presence on the sites under another account. ||||| Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey is getting slammed for his announcement on Tuesday that Alex Jones would remain on the platform since the Infowars host “hasn’t violated our rules.” 
 
 Jones has a history of promoting conspiracy theories, such as his false claim that the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. He’s currently being sued by the victims’ family members over harassment they received from “Infowars” fans and has been booted from a number of major platforms, including YouTube, Facebook, Spotify and Apple. 
 
 Mike Blake / Reuters Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said that “accounts like Jones’ can often sensationalize issues and spread unsubstantiated rumors,” but alluded it was not Twitter’s job to censor such content. 
 
 But Dorsey said it’s not up to Twitter to disown him. It’s on everyone else. 
 
 “It’s critical journalists document, validate and refute such information directly so people can form their own opinions,” Dorsey wrote. “This is what serves the public conversation best.” 
 
 That stance didn’t go over well on his own platform: 
 
 I am not getting paid to clean up your website for you. https://t.co/cVyNYsqtAJ — Matt Pearce 🦅 (@mattdpearce) August 8, 2018 
 
 Do you really think Twitter should be used/abused by Jones to spread his lies and hateful conspiracy theories? Because THAT is what he is doing, Jack, and YOU are letting him. — Maria Langer 🚁 (@mlanger) August 8, 2018 
 
 Soooo... you’re passing off the responsibility to journalists? This is your forum! — Glass City Indivisible (@GC_Indivisible) August 8, 2018 
 
 You have no idea what's going on in your platform. 
 
 
 
 None. 
 
 
 
 Try being your user for month where no one knows you. 
 
 
 
 Watch what it's become. 
 
 
 
 Then reread what you wrote. — Kristine Schachinger (@schachin) August 8, 2018 
 
 Seriously. If Alex Jones’s behavior toward the Sandy Hook families is consistent with Twitter’s terms of service, it’s time to re-evaluate the terms of service/raise the standards. — Miranda Yaver (@mirandayaver) August 8, 2018 
 
 That's not how it works, I'm afraid. I wish it were so simple: if you see someone in thrall to dangerous ignorance or malicious lies, you just present good old verifiable facts to that person and they recant. I wonder if that's ever happened in the history of humanity? — Alexey Kovalev (@Alexey__Kovalev) August 8, 2018 
 
 don't put this on us https://t.co/gwdQHJYAYA — Mike Murphy (@mcwm) August 8, 2018 
 
 Alex Jones is seriously the hill you want your integrity to die on? — Xeni Jardin 👩🏼‍💻 (@xeni) August 8, 2018 
 
 How DARE you put the onus on journalists when you refuse to take any action? “If journalists did a better job maybe Alex Jones wouldn’t be a thing” is the insinuation here. It’s insulting to journalists who disprove this crap every day while you refuse to do anything to stop this — Skylar Baker-Jordan (@SkylarJordan) August 8, 2018 
 
 Translation: “I am totally abdicating all responsibility here and relying on journalists to police my website because I am gutless.” -@jack https://t.co/Qb881sl32Y — Molly Knight (@molly_knight) August 8, 2018 
 
 Seems like a problem with the rules https://t.co/9Yse4kTLqB — Dan Pfeiffer (@danpfeiffer) August 8, 2018 
 
 if @jack and his fellow doormats here can get through the week without banning Alex Jones they have a shot at getting away with it. don't let them. bug them till they do one defensible fucking thing — Owen Ellickson (@onlxn) August 6, 2018 
 
 Alex Jones had someone on his show who reported that NASA operates a child slave colony on Mars — Ben Mathis-Lilley (@BenMathisLilley) August 8, 2018 
 
 Maybe if Alex Jones uploaded a 90s music video to his page he would get suspended @Jack — Matthew A. Cherry (@MatthewACherry) August 8, 2018 
 
 Bullshit. I've been suspended for using an expletive and once for telling someone he was the character in a Harriet Beecher Stowe novel. Your narrative that Alex Jones hasn't violated your TOS is not only utterly ridiculous, it's a lie. — Pinky Slivotitz™❄ (@ACreativeMuggle) August 8, 2018 
 
 Come on, jack. It’s a question of common decency. Alex jones attacks the families of children murdered at Sandy Hook. That alone is plenty. This isn’t a hard decision. https://t.co/fgpZPqyXnB — steven pasquale (@StevePasquale) August 8, 2018 ||||| This image shows a post on Info Wars' Twitter account showing right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones questioning CNN journalist Oliver Darcy on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2018, in Washington. Twitter is permanently... (Associated Press) 
 
 This image shows a post on Info Wars' Twitter account showing right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones questioning CNN journalist Oliver Darcy on Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2018, in Washington. Twitter is permanently banning Jones and his "Infowars" show for abusive behavior. Twitter says Jones posted a... (Associated Press) 
 
 NEW YORK (AP) — Twitter is permanently banning right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his "Infowars" show for abusive behavior. 
 
 The company said Jones won't be able to create new accounts on Twitter or take over any existing ones. Twitter said Jones posted a video on Wednesday that violates the company's policy against "abusive behavior." 
 
 The video in question showed Jones shouting at and berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy for some 10 minutes in between two congressional hearings focused on social media. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey testified at both hearings, but did not appear to witness the confrontation. 
 
 Jones had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. "Infowars" had about 430,000. 
 
 Twitter had previously suspended Jones for a week. But until now it had resisted muzzling Jones further. Other tech companies have limited Jones by suspending him for longer periods, as Facebook did, and by taking down his pages and radio stations. 
 
 Jones heckled Darcy in a public hallway where reporters were waiting to enter the House committee room. He criticized the journalist's reporting and appearance, referencing his "skinny jeans" and repeatedly saying, "just look at this guy's eyes" and "look at that smile." 
 
 At one point, he said Darcy was "smiling like a possum that crawled out of the rear end of a dead cow. That's what you look like. You look like a possum that got caught doing some really nasty stuff — in my view. You're a public figure too." 
 
 Darcy has aggressively questioned social media companies about the forbearance they showed Jones, asking why they have allowed him to remain on their platforms for as long as they have. 
 
 Jones is currently active on Facebook; his suspension there recently expired. 
 
 __ 
 
 Associated Press Writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this story from Washington.
– Alex Jones and his Infowars website have seen a crackdown this week from Apple, Facebook, Spotify, and YouTube, but Twitter still won't ban Jones' conspiracy-theory-laden content, which has been labeled by some of the other tech giants as "hate speech." CNN reports that on Tuesday, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tried to explain why Jones is still getting a pass, noting he got that it was "hard for many" to understand Twitter's stance, but that Jones hadn't breached any of the site's rules. "We'll enforce if he does," Dorsey added. "And we'll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren't artificially amplified." He conceded Twitter had been "terrible at explaining our decisions in the past," noted Twitter will "hold Jones to the same standard" as other accounts, and put the onus on journalists to combat any conspiracy theories Jones may push. "If we succumb and simply react to outside pressure, rather than straightforward principles we enforce (and evolve) impartially regardless of political viewpoints, we become a service tha'ts constructed by our personal views that can swing in any direction. That's not us," he wrote. Dorsey's remarks didn't go over well, HuffPost reports, with many noting the site had suspended their own accounts for what they said were far less controversial posts. The Independent reports Twitter has even been putting accounts on lockdown recently for users who've been changing their screen names to "Elon Musk" to poke fun at the Tesla CEO. Twitter offered a statement to the Verge on that, noting that the Musk ban was to keep spam levels down.