Why Twitter refuses to ban conspiracy theorist over hate speech

Social media giant Twitter has explained why it will not ban Alex Jones on its platform after YouTube, Facebook, Apple and others came down hard on the right-wing conspiracy theorist for peddling hate speech.

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey has defended his company’s decision not to follow the lead of its Silicon Valley counterparts, saying that Alex Jones “hasn’t violated our rules”. In a series of tweets, Dorsey explains that Twitter enforces its rules “impartially, regardless of political viewpoints”.

He points out, however, that Alex Jones is not being given a free ride. He may have escaped a ban for not violating Twitter’s policies, but Dorsey says: “we’ll enforce if he does”.

In a sideswipe at the suggestion that many of the bans that have been slapped on Jones and Infowars in recent days have been kneejerk reactions, he adds: “we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified”.

With a series of bans and content removal by major technology firms, Jones has complained that there is a coordinated “big tech” agenda to silence him.