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. ||||| 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. ||||| 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 has again suspended Alex Jones of InfoWars infamy. And this time it's permanent, CNN reports. "We took this action based on new reports of tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior police, in addition to the accounts' past violations," Twitter tweeted on Thursday afternoon; InfoWars is also permanently banned. CNBC notes that the ban is related to a confrontation between Jones and a CNN reporter at Capitol Hill on Wednesday that was streamed live on Twitter's Periscope service. Jones berated Oliver Darcy for several minutes, the AP reports, at one point saying the journalist was smiling "like a possum that crawled out of the rear end of a dead cow" and mocking his "skinny jeans." Other social media platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, have previously given Jones the boot. However, Jones is reportedly back on Facebook as that ban has expired. Between his namesake Twitter account and the InfoWars account, Jones had about 1.3 million followers, per the AP.