Apple joins clampdown on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones
Online media giants restrict the Infowars host's content for breaching their guidelines in a move against "hate content".
Tuesday 7 August 2018 10:05, UK
Apple has reportedly axed most of American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones's right-wing Infowars podcasts from iTunes and its podcast app.
The development comes amid a crackdown on the broadcaster's material by online platforms - like Facebook - which have removed some of his content.
According to Buzzfeed, which quoted an Apple spokesman on Sunday, the complete library for five of Jones's six Infowars podcasts were removed from its apps.
Only one Infowars programme - RealNews with David Knight - remained on the Apple platform after the cull.
It comes after Jones's personal Facebook profile was suspended for 30 days in July for what the social media website said was bullying and hate speech.
On Monday, Facebook announced it removed four of the host's pages for "repeatedly posting content over the past several days" which it said broke its community standards.
The pages were taken down for "glorifying violence, which violates our graphic violence policy, and using dehumanising language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants".
Facebook said the posts had violated its hate speech policies.
Music and podcast streaming service Spotify followed suit on Monday too, with it removing all of Jones's Infowars programmes.
A spokesperson said: "We take reports of hate content seriously and review any podcast episode or song that is flagged by our community.
"Due to repeated violations of Spotify's prohibited content policies, The Alex Jones Show has lost access to the Spotify platform."
Jones founded Infowars in 1999 and has gone on to gain a large following.
Some of his conspiracy theories include the US government staging the 9/11 attacks in New York and Washington, and the idea that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was faked by the left-wing to promote gun control.
Jones was not available to respond to news agency requests for comment on Monday.