Twitter Suspends Alex Jones After CNN Blacklist Campaign

Twitter has suspended Infowars host Alex Jones for seven days following a live broadcast in which Jones told his followers to prepare their “battle rifles” to defend themselves. The stream ironically was discussing social media censorship.

Following the purge of Infowars from multiple social media platforms, Alex Jones managed to continue to operate on Twitter with few issues — much to the displeasure of CNN. Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey even previously defended the company’s decision not to blacklist Jones, stating that he had yet to break any of their rules, but it seems that a single comment from Jones in a livestream broadcast via Twitter’s Periscope app was enough for Dorsey to limit Jones’ account for at least seven days — perhaps beginning to bow to pressure from CNN.

In the Periscope broadcast, Jones warned his followers to “get your battle rifles ready by your bedside, because they’re coming,” referring to Antifa, the mainstream media, and “Chicom operatives.” Jones comments were not a call to violence but rather a call for his viewers to prepare to defend themselves. Twitter appears to have taken Jones’ comments as a threat and subsequently limited his account. Jones was forced to delete the tweet featuring the Periscope stream and for seven days can browse Twitter but cannot tweet, like, or retweet other users tweets.

A Twitter spokesperson told Breitbart News that they: “can confirm that the account currently has limited functions. We aren’t suspending the account but requiring he delete a tweet which contained a broadcast in violation of our rules.”

Left-wing media watchdog Media Matters for America have uploaded a clip from the Periscope stream in which Jones calls for his viewers to defend themselves:

On Periscope, which is owned by Twitter, Alex Jones tells supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready against antifa, the mainstream media, and “Chicom operatives” https://t.co/OBHSFc3ofC pic.twitter.com/ntQbh9IKxz

— Media Matters (@mmfa) August 14, 2018

Alex Jones himself has posted a video explaining himself via the official Infowars Twitter account, reiterating that he did not threaten the media and calling the story a “hoax.”

https://twitter.com/infowars/status/1029720314006196224

Infowars editor Paul Joseph Watson also noted in a tweet that Jones was discussing social media censorship in the Periscope stream when his account was limited. On the same day, the official InfoWars website was reportedly brought down by a DDOS attack which overwhelms a website with a massive amount of false traffic.

Alex Jones has been suspended by Twitter for 7 days for a video talking about social media censorship. Truly, monumentally, beyond stupid. 😄

On the same day that the Infowars website was brought down by a cyber attack.

Will this madness ever end? pic.twitter.com/hXDzH2b7rT

— Paul Joseph Watson (@PrisonPlanet) August 14, 2018