After years of violating the terms of service (TOS) agreements for Facebook, YouTube, Spotify, Apple and Twitter, four of the five platforms finally removed Alex Jones and his Infowars content from their sites and banned him. Twitter—after a CNN expose gave examples of the many times Jones also violated their TOS—eventually gave both Jones and Infowars a brief suspension on their platform as well.
As a result of repeatedly violating the various platforms' terms of service, Jones got banned. And because Jones got banned, his revenue dropped drastically.
For those unfamiliar with Jones, his Infowars program consists of theatrical, ranting presentations of conspiracy theories interspersed with plugs for his survivalist gear and nutritional supplements. In the past, Jones stated the attacks on 9/11 were an inside job, liberals planned to start a civil war on July 4, 2018, and school shootings were hoaxes. He also called for his listeners to take up weapons against various people of groups he deemed enemies.
Much of the hate speech and calls for violence in Jones' rants violates various TOS he agreed to when setting up on the platforms that banned him. But facing a much smaller reach and revenue stream, Jones now touts a new conspiracy theory painting himself as the victim of a vast left wing Democratic effort to deplatform conservative voices on social media.
Jones still operates his own website, but he maintains it is his right to force other private companies to allow his content on their platforms even if it does violate their terms of service. He fails to explain why, except to claim it is a conspiracy against him because he is a conservative voice.
For reasons of self-promotion, Jones attended a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing on Wednesday. The stated purpose of the meeting involved election interference on social media. But because executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter attended, Jones declared he should testify and the stated purpose of the hearing should change to match his personal agenda.
That failed to happen.
Instead, Jones waited for a press gaggle to form during a hearing break so he could interrupt it. He got his chance when Florida Republican Senator Marco Rubio stopped in the hallway outside the hearing to take questions from a few reporters.
Jones immediately interrupted both the reporters asking questions and Rubio when he attempted to answer them.
Watch CNBC footage—where Jones can be heard clearly—here:
And HillTV footage from a different angle—where Jones can be seen clearly but not always heard—here:
During the course of the exchange, Rubio continues to ask who Jones is, both to the reporters in front of him and to Jones himself. Jones repeats his website url several times and claims Rubio "knows who Infowars is" because Jones has "tens of billions of views" and is "bigger than Rush Limbaugh."
Jones tries several times to get cameras and the reporters to focus on him as well as get Rubio's attention. By interrupting Rubio...
Alex Jones interrupts a press gaggle with Senator Marco Rubio outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
...repeatedly...
Alex Jones interrupts a press gaggle with Senator Marco Rubio outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
...and then just trying to take over and address reporters himself.
Alex Jones tries to take over a press gaggle with Senator Marco Rubio outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
At one point, Rubio asks reporters, "Is that a heckler at a press gaggle?" Press gaggle is a term used to refer to informal question and answer sessions, mostly with politicians in Washington DC. Rubio also rolls his eyes several times at Jones' behavior or comments.
Alex Jones' antics elicit an eye roll from Senator Marco Rubio outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
Throughout, Rubio laughs at Jones' antics. At one point, Jones gets mad at being laughed at and mocks Rubio's laughter and calls the Senator a "frat boy."
Alex Jones mocks Senator Marco Rubio and calls him a "frat boy" outside a Senate Intelligence committee hearing. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
At other times, Jones—in an attempt to bring Rubio's attention back to him after he begins to ignore him—also calls Rubio a snake and pats him on the shoulder. The first time Jones touches Rubio, the Senator largely ignores him, but a Capital Police officer moves closer in the background.
Alex Jones pats Senator Rubio on the shoulder to get his attention after Rubio returns his attention to a reporter. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
However the second time Jones gets upset over Rubio turning away from him, interrupts Rubio and puts his hand on him, security intervenes.
The Capital Police officer quickly removes Jones hand and tells him, "Keep your hands off the Senator, sir."
Rubio then tells Jones, "Hey, don't touch me again man. I'm asking you not to touch me."
Senator Rubio tells Alex Jones to stop touching him. (CNBC Twitter video screen grab)
Jones then argues that he only patted him nicely, to which Rubio responds again that he does not know him and does not want to be touched by him. Jones then tells Rubio it "wasn't enough to take his first amendment" but that he will now have him arrested too.
Rubio responds Jones will not be arrested, but that he will take care of it himself. Which Jones uses as an opportunity to claim Rubio threatened to beat him up and tells Rubio,
"You are literally like a little gangster thug."
After stating he did not threaten to beat Jones up, Rubio laughs at Jones' latest insult and goes back to ignoring him. Eventually Rubio gets called away to return to the committee chambers. As he walks away he tells reporters they can "talk to this clown."
Alex Jones and Infowars currently face a defamation lawsuit from the parents of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims. The families faced years of harassment from Jones' followers because of his false claims about the murders of their children.
Jane Rosenberg
Jane Rosenberg
