Apple shuts down most of Alex Jones’ Infowars podcasts

Alex Jones on
Infowars.
Alex
Jones/YouTube

• Apple has scrubbed nearly all of Alex Jones’ Infowars
  podcasts from iTunes and its Podcast app.
• The company said it does not “tolerate hate speech,”
  adding that creators that violate its guidelines will be
  punished.
• Apple’s decision represents the most significant
  crackdown on Jones from a Silicon Valley giant.

Apple has removed almost all of Alex Jones’ Infowars podcasts
from iTunes and its Podcast app in a sweeping crackdown on the
popular conspiracy theorist.

BuzzFeed first reported the news
of Apple’s decision, which has seen the entire library for
five of Infowars’ six podcasts scrubbed from the firm’s audio
platforms. As of Sunday, just one Infowars show remained —
“RealNews” with David Knight.

Apple pointed Business Insider to the statement it
provided BuzzFeed. The firm told BuzzFeed that it notified
Jones of its plans to pull the podcasts under its hate speech
guidelines. Jones is yet to comment on the matter.

“Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear
guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we
provide a safe environment for all of our users,” an Apple
spokesperson told BuzzFeed.

“Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our
directory making them no longer searchable or available for
download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of
views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing
opinions.”

Apple’s decision represents the most significant crackdown on
Jones from a Silicon Valley giant. Facebook and YouTube both
selectively removed four of Jones’ videos from their platforms
last month, but the Infowars presenter still has a
significant presence on both websites. Spotify also took down several
episodes of “The Alex Jones Show” last week.

Sleeping Giants, an activist organization that vows to “make
bigotry and sexism less profitable,” has been lobbying Apple to
take action against Jones. It welcomed the company’s decision on
Twitter.

Jones is facing defamation lawsuits from the families of Sandy
Hook victims after his claims that the school shooting was a
hoax. Among his theories on the Las Vegas shooting, he has asked
whether gunman Stephen Paddock was “a patsy to kick off the
left’s war with the right.”