*By Conor White* The decision by the web's biggest social platforms Monday to [remove content by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/06/apple-facebook-spotify-remove-alex-jones-content/?utm_term=.da5ce4fff42e) and bar the Inforwars host from posting may set a new standard for what's appropriate speech on social media, says Sara Fischer, a media reporter for Axios. Facebook, YouTube, Apple, and Spotify all removed Jones's incendiary podcasts and videos for hate speech and harassment. In [a statement Monday](https://newsroom.fb.com/news/2018/08/enforcing-our-community-standards/), Facebook said it was removing content from four pages associated with Jones for "glorifying violence" and "using dehumanizing language." Google, which owns YouTube, told the Washington Post on Monday it terminated Jones's video channel for similar reasons. “All users agree to comply with our Terms of Service and Community Guidelines when they sign up to use YouTube," Google said [according to The Post](https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2018/08/06/apple-facebook-spotify-remove-alex-jones-content/?noredirect=on&utm_term=.310b9280a077). "When users violate these policies repeatedly, like our policies against hate speech and harassment or our terms prohibiting circumvention of our enforcement measures, we terminate their accounts." Jones has repeatedly spread the false claim that the deadly 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School that killed 27 people was a hoax. Parents of some of the slain children are [suing Jones](http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/ct-infowars-alex-jones-sandy-hook-lawsuit-20180801-story.html). They say they've been harassed by his followers ー at Jones's urging ー and have been forced to move. Jones has said that he was acting as a journalist and that his speech is protected. "This is really dicey," Fischer said Monday in an interview on Cheddar. "If you're Facebook, you want to create a policy that can scale." Blocking one person for his false views isn't a sustainable policy, she said. "You need to be able to scale that policy globally to every single viewpoint." Infowars has also been cited repeatedly for promulgating "fake news," but Facebook said in its statement that misinformation is a different issue that the social network is trying to address separately. Jones's content was removed specifically for speech that violates the social network's community standards. "The claims he's making have always been dangerous, but they seem particularly paranoid as of late," said Heather Dockray, a culture reporter at Mashable. Companies wary of accusations of censorship have until now refrained from taking action against Jones, but Dockray said that Jones's increased rhetoric made the decisions to block Infowars an easy call. "I think with Alex Jones it's the closest thing to a clear-cut case as you're ever going to get," Dockray said. "I mean this is someone who has shared the addresses of Sandy Hook parents a couple of years ago, and this is someone who a lot of critics say has engaged in targeted harassment campaigns." Despite the actions of Facebook, Apple, and YouTube, one social platform, Twitter, has not removed Jones or InfoWars from its service. According to Bloomberg, a Twitter spokesperson InfoWars and related accounts were not [currently in violation](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-06/conspiracy-theorist-alex-jones-booted-from-youtube-other-online-services) of Twitter’s rules. Still, the decisions by Apple, Spotify and Facebook may clear the way for other platforms to take action, now that a precedent has been established. And Fischer said that Facebook must feel it can apply the new standard universally, or the company would not have acted against one individual. "This is a very big, massive step for Facebook to be removing some of Alex Jones's pages," Fischer said. "In doing so, they're essentially saying 'we don't think that viewpoint or whatever it is that he's putting out there is accurate, is true and is healthy, is safe."

Share:
More In Technology
Metal 3D Printing SpaceX Vendor Velo3D CEO on Q4 Revenue Jump
Velo3d, a company that provides metal 3D printed parts for companies such as SpaceX, reported a boost in Q4 revenue quarter over quarter. Founder and CEO Benny Buller, joined Cheddar News to discuss the earnings and the foundation of the company's current success. "The whole space sector is about 25 percent of our business. We have a lot of business in aviation, in power generation, in energy, and in semiconductors. I would say that the big jump in our revenue is related to the release of our Sapphire XC, which is a scale-up product reducing costs by about three times compared to the first Sapphire machines," he said. "This allows customers to dramatically reduce costs as well as make much bigger parts."
Study Shows Corn-Based Ethanol Could Be Worse for Climate Than Gasoline Alone
Under the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), corn-based ethanol has been mixed into gasoline sold at pumps in the U.S. since 2005, when a policy was enacted aimed at reducing emissions. Corn-based ethanol had been thought to be a relatively greener energy source compared to other biofuels, but now, a new study published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences reports it may be actually worse for the climate than straight gasoline. Tyler Lark, an assistant scientist at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's Center for Sustainability, joined Cheddar News' Closing Bell and discussed the pushback against the study. "Essentially when you need to produce more corn to meet the demand for use as ethanol as fuel, farmers respond and they switch more crops like soybeans and wheat into corn," Lark said. "They also bring more land into production, so things that used to be pasture grassland, and both those activities are associated with increased greenhouse gas emissions."
Zoom CFO on Post-Pandemic Offerings Without Price Increases
Video conferencing service Zoom rolled out a flurry of announcements that included a new Zoom Phone, Zoom Events, and Zoom Contact Center in an effort to transition the company from a pandemic darling to a post-pandemic business — while keeping the product accessible. Kelly Steckelberg, CFO of Zoom, joined Cheddar News to talk about the transition while still remaining affordable. "We currently have no plans to raise our prices," she said. "We focus on bringing as much value as possible to our customers. We often add new features and functionality without any incremental prices across the board."
Breaking Down the Future of the E-Boating Industry
Alexandre Mongeon, the CEO and co-founder of Vision Marine Technologies, joins Cheddar Innovates to discuss the latest innovations in the e-boating industry, and how fully electric motors and boats will play a role in the fight against the climate crisis.
Comcast on Internet Usage Growing More Than Ever in 2021, Future of 10G
Even as pandemic restrictions slowly began winding down through 2021, cable and internet provider Comcast's 2021 Network Report showed that average internet consumption increased. Activities like content streaming and online gaming grew between 10 and 20 percent, according to the study. Elad Nafshi, chief network officer for Comcast, joined Cheddar News to share what he thinks will happen with our new online habits in a post-pandemic world. "Beyond, the traditional game downloads, streaming gaming, which falling into the purposes is just like streaming 4K video for us, is starting to pick up and, and certainly we'll watch that consumer behavior continue," he said. Nafshi also discussed the company's investments in 10G technology, its future generation of network speed.
Load More