Twitter suspends more accounts linked to Alex Jones, Infowars
Twitter ices 18 accounts associated with the far-right conspiracy theorist.
More Twitter accounts associated with Infowars founder Alex Jones have been suspended.
Twitter has suspended more than a dozen accounts associated with Infowars and Alex Jones, its banned founder.
A Twitter spokesman confirmed Monday it had suspended 18 accounts "under the Infowars umbrella," as CNN had reported Monday afternoon. The social network said it had previously banned five accounts with links to Jones after several warnings.
Twitter said last month it had permanently banned the primary accounts of the the far-right conspiracy theorist and his media outlet Infowars, which are known for spreading virulent conspiracy theories. Twitter said the terminated accounts violated its abusive-behavior policy.
Some of the accounts suspended Monday were referenced in a Daily Beast report last week about Infowars-linked accounts continuing to tweet Jones' conspiracy theories despite his ban from the platform, including the Infowars account Real News.
Jones has been widely criticized for promoting untrue, virulent hypotheses about tragic events, like the 2001 terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center in New York that killed nearly 3,000 people and the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 26 students and staff.
Several Silicon Valley giants -- Facebook, Google's YouTube, Apple, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Vimeo and Spotify -- banned Infowars from their platforms. The tech giants said that they don't tolerate hate speech and that Infowars violated their community standards and guidelines.
When contacted for comment, a Twitter spokesman pointed to a statement the company issued last month that it would "continue to evaluate reports we receive regarding other accounts potentially associated" with Jones or Infowars.
Representatives for Jones and Infowars didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
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