Alex Jones, a right-wing conspiracy theorist, recently saw years of his posts brought down from some of the major social media platforms. This was a big shock, but while that happened, his Infowars app has seen a remarkable rise in popularity on Google Play and Apple Store. The app allows people to stream Alex Jones’ shows and read the news of the day. Ranked third among the top-rated apps on Google Play this week and earning the 3rd place in the leading app’s list on the Apple Store, it’s been an outstanding success.
Indications are that the app had this sudden increase in downloads right after Jones was banned from leading social media sites. Major tech companies including Apple, Google, and Facebook unilaterally decided to close down the Infowars brand after Jones violated their terms of use. Almost at the same time Facebook started by deleting four of Jones’s pages on the platform; YouTube, owned by Google, then followed by terminating the Infowars channel that had over 2.4 million subscribers; and Apple removed a big share of Jones’s podcasts from its iTunes platform.
However, Jones is still active on Twitter. The social media company explained on Tuesday that there was nothing at the moment to suggest that he had violated Twitter’s terms of use. A tweet sent by Twitter’s Chief Executive, Jack Dorsey, noted that Jones will be held to the same standards as other users. But Dorsey’s tweet came under significant backlash from people who felt Twitter is failing to act accordingly.
Despite the actions taken by Facebook, Apple, and Google, Infowars is still accessible through its website, people can easily download the app and access the same content as before. Apple released a statement saying that there’s no intention of removing the Infowars app from the App Store. The company said the store is open to everyone, regardless of diverse opinions, but there are still a number of clear guidelines that needs to be followed by anyone who intends to use it to share their apps. Google published the same statement noting that the Infowars app hasn’t violated its Play Store policies. They also said that all the content available through the Play Store was carefully reviewed and there’s no reason to believe the Infowars app has violated any rules.
The recent popularity of the Infowars app could fuel a growing conspiracy theory that leading Silicon Valley companies have been censoring objectionable materials. Facebook has been accused of censoring right-wing voices on the platform before, but the company has often denied these allegations. Jones hasn’t responded to these most recent developments yet, but they will definitely help him advance the narrative that social media companies have targeted him for his right-wing opinions. Infowars was founded in 1999 and has thrived in conspiracy theories over the last two decades.
