Spotify Removes Alex Jones Podcast Episodes For Violating Its ‘Hate Content Policy’
Digital music service Spotify has removed some episodes of The Alex Jones Show podcast citing violations of its “hate content policy.” Fortune reports that neither the names of the specific episodes nor a count of the canceled episodes was provided. They did issue a statement, however, that seems to indicate they examined some episodes due to feedback from listeners, saying, “We take reports of hate content seriously and review any podcast episode or song that is flagged by our community.” Dozens of episodes remain on the streaming service.
Spotify’s move is believed to be in part in reaction to a flood of tweets Monday from users demanding that they pull his show that they have been broadcasting for over a year. One Twitter user tweeted that she had contacted Spotify and had been told that if they received enough complaints, they would consider removing Jones’ show.
“I talked to Spotify about how to get Alex Jones’ Infowars off their platform. I was advised to make a suggestion. They’ll look into it if it gets 100 votes. Please help boost.”
While some praised the move by the audio-streaming giant, others felt they didn’t go far enough and believed they should have pulled the show altogether. One tweet read in part, “The same Alex Jones who terrorized parents grieving over the murder of their children at Sandy Hook Elementary. THAT Alex Jones. Not good enough. Not even close.#DeleteSpotify.”
.@Spotify Yanks Alex Jones Podcasts for Violating Hate-Speech Policy https://t.co/nnCtH8pLvE
— Variety (@Variety) August 1, 2018
Alex Jones founded InfoWars, a media platform and website that has often been attacked for promoting conspiracy theories including, as reported by Reuters, one that says the Sandy Hook mass shooting a hoax and that there was a left-wing political cover-up by people wanting to use it as a way to promote gun control. He has also claimed that the U.S. government was involved in the Oklahoma City bombing and the 9/11 attacks.
Spotify is not the first outlet to remove content from Alex Jones from its service as a variety of platforms have scrutinized his content. Google removed four videos they deemed contained hate speech against Muslims and transgender people and banned him from using their platform for livestreaming for three months. Facebook has also issued a ban on Alex Jones for 30 days and removed four of his videos, and YouTube has pulled four of his videos.
In addition to InfoWars, Alex Jones also operates the websites NewsWars and Prison Planet. He has three children by his former wife, Kelly Jones.
