Spotify has deleted several episodes of the podcast hosted by far-right agitator Alex Jones, the controversial founder of the Infowars conspiracy-theory site. The streaming service cited Jones’ violations of its policy banning hate speech.
“We take reports of hate content seriously and review any podcast episode or song that is flagged by our community,” a spokeswoman said in an email. “Spotify can confirm it has removed specific episodes of ‘The Alex Jones Show’ podcast for violating our hate content policy.” The company did not provide details about the alleged hate speech in the Jones podcasts that were removed, an action it took after many Spotify users complained about them.
News of Spotify’s removal of the offending Jones podcast episodes was first posted by New York Times reporter Ben Sisario in a tweet Wednesday.
Spotify continues to offer dozens of episode of Jones’ podcast on the service, dating back to at least June 2017.
Jones — who has perpetuated such myths as asserting that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School gun massacre was a hoax — has come under increasing scrutiny in recent weeks by big tech platforms. Jones and the Infowars’ brand of fear-based rhetoric targeting immigrants, LGBT people, women and other groups have become a high-profile test case for what internet-content platforms will allow and what they will block.
Spotify Yanks Multiple Alex Jones Podcast Episodes for Violating Hate-Speech Policy
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