Apple Confirms Infowars App Won't Be Removed From App Store

Apple does not plan to remove the Infowars app from the iOS App Store at this time, the company told BuzzFeed News this evening. Apple said that the Infowars app had not violated its App Store guidelines.

"We strongly support all points of view being represented on the App Store, as long as the apps are respectful to users with differing opinions, and follow our clear guidelines, ensuring the App Store is a safe marketplace for all," the company said in a statement.

"We continue to monitor apps for violations of our guidelines and if we find content that violates our guidelines and is harmful to users we will remove those apps from the store as we have done previously."

Apple over the weekend removed the entire libraries of five Infowars podcasts from the Apple Podcasts platform. "War Room" and "The Alex Jones Show," hosted by controversial U.S. radio show host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, were among those pulled from Apple Podcasts.

When removing the Infowars podcast listings from the Podcasts platform, Apple said that it does not tolerate hate speech, finding that the Infowars podcasts did indeed violate its podcast content guidelines.

"Apple does not tolerate hate speech, and we have clear guidelines that creators and developers must follow to ensure we provide a safe environment for all of our users," a company spokesperson said.

"Podcasts that violate these guidelines are removed from our directory making them no longer searchable or available for download or streaming. We believe in representing a wide range of views, so long as people are respectful to those with differing opinions."

As BuzzFeed points out, the Infowars mobile app available from the App Store allows users to live stream the same programs that were removed from the Apple Podcasts platform. The Infowars mobile app streams video broadcasts rather than making a repository of content available to listeners, however, which may be why the app was not pulled while the podcasts were.

BuzzFeed suggests that since the streaming broadcasts are ephemeral and not stored in the app, that Apple will need to "catch [Jones] in the act and in the moment" to act on a violation.

Apple's App Store guidelines state that apps should not include content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, or in exceptionally poor taste. Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content is listed as an example.

Defamatory, discriminatory, or mean-spirited content, including references or commentary about religion, race, sexual orientation, gender, national/ethnic origin, or other targeted groups, particularly if the app is likely to humiliate, intimidate, or place a targeted individual or group in harm's way.

Multiple social media platforms have now removed Infowars content from their services, including YouTube, Facebook, and Spotify.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Top Rated Comments

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mariusignorello

10 weeks ago

Different opinions do not bother me. Say what you want.

Removing content and silencing people? Now you’ve got a war. Especially when you grandstand about being inclusive of all people and opinions.

Rating: 69 Votes

jarman92

10 weeks ago

This isn't a different "opinion:" he knows the things he says are false (he has admitted it under oath in court) and he does it to elicit a particular response. Saying that a factual event did not occur isn't an "opinion;" it's either a lie or a clinical delusion. He says that the Sandy Hook shooting was faked, and encouraged his insane fans to harass and embarrass parents whose children were murdered. These people literally go up to the parents and demand proof that their adolescent son or daughter was murdered. They call them liars. They go to their homes and follow them around.

Alex Jones is a money-grubbing, despicable fraud and is among the worst human beings on the planet. He traffics in conspiracy theories to sell vitamins to men with fragile egos and small penises. At least one of his loony stories resulted in a man shooting up a pizza parlor. The First Amendment has always had limits; this is obviously one of them. His speech is not protected. Please spare us all the feigned outrage.
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He did not incite harassment AFAIK. Saying it "led to" something occurring is quite a stretch. People can hear any news they want and them make any number of dumb decisions based on it.

I almost don't even want to say it because its so cliché, but by your ridiculous standard yelling fire in a crowded theater should be protected because "he didn't tell people to panic and trample each other!"

Rating: 59 Votes

PotatoLeekSoup

10 weeks ago

I have never listened to or watched Alex Jones, but removing alternative POVs is idiotic. What exactly did he violate in Apple's terms anyway? The censors never tell you. Gotta be careful not to commit WrongThink!

Rating: 45 Votes

morcutt11

10 weeks ago

I agree with the previous posters in that I have no interest in Alex Jones or any of the opinions he shares. However, I detest censorship far more. When a handful of companies can form a virtual monopoly and control the vast majority of social media and arbitrarily decide who can be heard, that's a big problem.

Rating: 44 Votes

RCS31

10 weeks ago

Good. I don't listen To Alex Jones, frankly I think he's pretty crazy, but my goodness did they all mess up erasing him from the face of the internet like that within the space of 12 hours.

Rating: 38 Votes

fairuz

10 weeks ago

But they removed a Civil War game because the Confederate side had their actual flag. That's weird.

Rating: 36 Votes

PotatoLeekSoup

10 weeks ago

I don’t know the exact terms he violated, but I know his looney Sandy Hook conspiracy theories led to families being harassed, making one of them move seven times.

He did not incite harassment AFAIK. Saying it "led to" something occurring is quite a stretch. People can hear any news they want and them make any number of dumb decisions based on it.

Rating: 31 Votes

dannyyankou

10 weeks ago

I don’t know the exact terms he violated, but I know his looney Sandy Hook conspiracy theories led to families being harassed, making one of them move seven times.

Rating: 29 Votes

Gregintosh

10 weeks ago

“If you cut off a mans tongue, you aren’t proving him a liar. You’re just proving you’re afraid of what he may say.”

For anyone celebrating platforms silencing someone over political speech, you will have no ground to stand on when invariably someone goes after your political speech.

To me, labeling something as “hate speech” is just a poor attempt at trying to stifle free speech. Granted these are private companies not the government, but their oligopoly on media distribution makes them picking and choosing who they’ll silence worrisome.

Rating: 27 Votes

Blackstick

10 weeks ago

From what I heard, he incited crazy right wingers to harass Sandy Hook families. For that he should burn in hell, something I know his type deeply fair.

Rating: 25 Votes

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