Despite Criticism, Roku Defends Decision To Add InfoWars Channel To Streaming Service – By Alex Perry (IB Times) / Jan 15 2019
In Summer 2018, it seemed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his InfoWars content channels had lost a significant amount of influence after nearly every major social network banned Jones. However, on Tuesday, Digiday revealed streaming company Roku had added InfoWars as a viewable channel on its streaming devices.
Controversy inevitably followed, as Roku users took to Twitter to criticize the company for possibly enabling hate speech. Jones has frequently come under fire for using InfoWars to spread conspiracy theories about things like the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, claiming it was a hoax.
He has recently been in the news because families of Sandy Hook victims have sued Jones for defamation.
Alex Jones of InfoWars talks to reporters outside a Senate Intelligence Committee hearing concerning foreign influence operations’ use of social media platforms, on Capitol Hill, September 5, 2018 in Washington, DC. Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images
Roku released a statement, published in full by TechCrunch, defending its decision to give InfoWars a place on its platform by claiming a position of neutrality. According to Roku, the company has no “commercial relationship” with InfoWars and does not “censor based on viewpoint.
“While open to many voices, we have policies that prohibit the publication of content that is unlawful, incites illegal activities or violates third-party rights, among other things. If we determine a channel violates these policies, it will be removed. To our knowledge, InfoWars is not currently in violation of these content policies.”
Spotify, Facebook, YouTube, iTunes and other services removed InfoWars content from their sites in quick succession last year. Spotify’s decision to purge InfoWars from its platform came not long after his podcast first appeared on the audio streaming service. Mounting criticism from users led to the removal of InfoWars from Spotify.
At the time, Twitter took a similar stance to Roku, stating Jones would be removed from the site only when he was found in violation of its terms of service. He was eventually suspended after using Twitter’s streaming service Periscope to incite violence against supposed left-wing media.
