After months of being told exactly what kind of message he’s been sending by refusing to ban Alex Jones and his ilk from Twitter, CEO Jack Dorsey finally banned the InfoWars host from his social media platform. The suspension came about following a Periscope video of Jones verbally harassing a reporter named Oliver Darcy. Twitter released the full statement about Jones’s suspension:
Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. 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’ previous violations.
As we continue to increase transparency around our Rules and enforcement actions, we wanted to be open about this action given the broad interest in this case. We do not typically comment on enforcement actions we take against individual accounts, for their privacy.
We will continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated with @realalexjones or @infowars and will take action if content that violates our Rules is reported or if other accounts are utilized in an attempt to circumvent their ban.
As we continue to increase transparency around our rules and enforcement actions, we wanted to be open about this action given the broad interest in this case. We do not typically comment on enforcement actions we take against individual accounts, for their privacy.
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
This comes after a long period of time in which professionals and social media users alike criticized Dorsey for his inaction against Jones. CNN even provided Dorsey with a list of seven tweets that violated the site’s terms of use, and yet only now is Jones finally banned, after there could be no way for Twitter to talk its way around letting him remain on the platform. Of course, this also comes after Jones crashed Dorsey’s visit to Congress, accusing him and other tech leaders of being biased against conservatives. Which is weird, since recently Jones named Dorsey an ally in the fight against “globalism” and Dorsey allegedly spoke in favor of keeping him on the site.
Naturally, the news is being met with a great deal of joy from the left on Twitter. Jones and his followers have been harassing users for years; namely the parents of the Sandy Hook victims and others who have spoken out against gun violence. If Twitter will finally start banning Nazis and white supremacists, instead of handing out timeouts to teens and twentysomethings who use the word “choke” in their tweets, maybe the site can still be saved.
There’s something to be said that it took Jones harassing Dorsey, a fellow white man, to his face for Dorsey to take action. I still find the man’s actions and dedication to making sure that Twitter is a “public square” where anyone can speak to be a bit shortsighted, as too often those defending themselves from harassment get banned while their harassers go free.
Twitter has a long way to go before it’s a safe platform for people to use, but this is a step in the right direction. Hopefully, we’ll begin to see a positive change in the way Twitter keeps users safe, and that Jones will continue to have his platform chipped away until he fades into the void. We can only hope for the latter to happen soon.
(via Buzzfeed; Image: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
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