7 Aug 2018

Alex Jones' Infowars blocked from social media

From Morning Report, 8:45 am on 7 August 2018

Facebook and other major tech companies have blocked content from the controversial American website Infowars, for publishing "Fake News". Apple Inc, YouTube, and Spotify also took down podcasts and channels from US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, saying he broke community standards. Mr Jones has argued the September 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington were staged by the government, and that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. Facebook says it removed the pages "for glorifying violence, which violates our graphic violence policy, and using dehumanizing language to describe people who are transgender, Muslims and immigrants, which violates our hate speech policies." But the site's editors say the broad take-downs amount to censorship, ahead of the mid-terms elections later this year. We talk about this with our correspondent in Silicon Valley, Dave Lee.