Alex Jones attracts support of Fox anchors over YouTube, Facebook bans – By Andrew Blake (washingtontimes.com) / July 28 2018
Alex Jones has found allies in fellow right-wing media personalities Lou Dobbs and Tucker Carlson in light of YouTube and Facebook censuring the embattled Infowars publisher’s accounts.
The social network and video site separately penalized Mr. Jones this week for violating their user policies, prompting both cable news hosts to come to the defense of the controversial conspiracy theorist.
“Freedom of speech under attack by Facebook and YouTube,” Mr. Dobbs reacted Friday evening. Tech executives “think that their politics should be the determinant values of their respective organizations, which are platforms for free speech, public discourse,” he said during his Fox Business Channel program, “Lou Dobbs Tonight.”
Mr. Carlson similarly defended Mr. Jones during his Fox News program Thursday evening, albeit while accusing a competing cable news network of “agitating” YouTube into taking action.
“Now, I know we’re supposed to think that Alex Jones is way more radical than, like, Bill Maher, or Michelle Wolf or Rosie O’Donnell,” said Mr. Carlson, “but he’s got a point of view, and CNN is trying to squelch his point of view.”
Mr. Jones, 44, has been accused of peddling “fake news” throughout the duration of his decades-long career in broadcasting, including infamously conspiracies theories involving tragedies including the Sept. 11 terrorist attack and 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, among others.
Concerns over Mr. Jones‘ content have come to a head in recent weeks, particularly after CNN pressedFacebook executives this month about allowing Mr. Jones to operate a page on its platform, ultimately culminating in the social network suspending his personal profile for 30 days Thursday.
Mr. Jones subsequently asked CNN to “cease and desist” Friday and accused the network of being on a “campaign against competing news organizations and the First Amendment,” CNN reported.
YouTube removed four videos from Mr. Jones‘ channel earlier in the week for violating its community guidelines and suspended its broadcasting privileges for three months, putting the channel at risk of being shuttered completely pending further infringements.
Mr. Jones‘ main YouTube channel includes episodes of his syndicated radio and internet program, “The Alex Jones Show,” where he interviewed President Trump in 2015. The show is currently carried by over 100 stations, and the YouTube channel boasts over 2.4 million subscribers.
https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2018/jul/28/alex-jones-attracts-support-fox-anchors-over-youtu/
