A week after Apple, Facebook, and Youtube removed the majority of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ content from their platforms, Twitter finally followed suit.
On Tuesday (Aug. 14), Twitter suspended Jones—for seven days. The decision came after Jones posted a video to Twitter calling on his supporters to get their “battle rifles” ready to fight.
Until Tuesday, Twitter was the lone holdout among the major tech companies. One week prior, Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey tweeted his decision not to ban Jones or Infowars, the far-right conspiracy-theorist website run by Jones, from the platform. But every day since Dorsey made that announcement, he’s faced severe criticism for his decision.
On day one, current Twitter employees called out their CEO for not taking a stand. On day two, CNN reporter Oliver Darcey dismantled Dorsey’s claim that Jones’ hadn’t “violated [Twitter’s] rules.” On day five, activist Shannon Coulter launched a campaign calling on other Twitter users to block any Fortune 500 company with a “Twitter presence.” As of Tuesday morning, the campaign has garnered the support of over 50,000 Twitter users. On day six (Monday), Jones named Dorsey an ally “in the fight against the globalists.”
On day seven, Dorsey relented.
A Twitter spokesperson told The New York Times that Jones had broken its rules and would be suspended for a week. (Twitter did not immediately respond to Quartz’s request for comment.) The temporary suspension is Twitter’s standard punishment for repeated rule-breaking, and the company hasn’t clarified what Jones would have to do to merit permanent expulsion from the platform.
While Jones’ personal Twitter account is now frozen, the Infowars account remains active: