PayPal bans Alex Jones, saying Infowars 'promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance’
By Brian Fung
Washington Post, September 21, 2018
Photo Credit: Jose Luis Magana/AP
PayPal is terminating its relationship with Alex Jones and his website, Infowars, the online payment service said Friday.
After an extensive review of Infowars and its related sites, PayPal said in a statement, the company “found instances that promoted hate or discriminatory intolerance against certain communities and religions, which run counter to our core value of inclusion.”
PayPal notified Infowars of the decision Thursday, prompting the site to accuse PayPal in a blog post of a “political ploy designed to financially sabotage an influential media outlet.” Infowars said PayPal had given it 10 days to find a new payment platform, after which PayPal’s services would no longer function.
PayPal declined to cite specific examples of Infowars’s problematic behavior. But Infowars has gained increasing attention — and criticism — for its role in spreading conspiracy theories and misinformation online. PayPal’s decision Friday makes it the latest tech company to ban Jones and his content from its platform, following in the footsteps of Apple, Facebook and Google, among others.
Last month, Jones’s podcasts were removed from iTunes after Apple said it did not tolerate hate speech. YouTube soon took similar enforcement steps against Infowars, saying Jones had “repeatedly” violated its terms of service. Although Twitter initially resisted banning Jones, it, too, removed him from its platform earlier this month with a permanent suspension.
Twitter’s decision came hours after Jones appeared at a high-profile congressional hearing involving Twitter chief executive Jack Dorsey and Facebook chief operating officer Sheryl Sandberg. During the event, Jones was recorded heckling journalists and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). Afterward, Jones tried to confront Dorsey as he was exiting the Senate office building where the hearing was held.
Arm yourself as a citizen of Free America with the best defense you have: your Constitution. Join Free America Law Center today and enjoy voting rights on future cases, a Bill of Rights book series by Barnes Law School, a weekly podcast featuring constitutional expert Robert Barnes and exclusive invitations to future events for the Citizens of ’76 and our nation’s leading freedom fighters.
