Twitter slaps temporary ban on Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for violating rules

Twitter has temporarily banned controversial Infowars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from posting on the social network.

A screenshot has been shared across Twitter, informing Jones that he has violated the company’s rules against abusive behaviour and will have his account features limited for seven days.

Although Jones will be unable to tweet anything new for the duration of the enforcement, his page and existing tweets will remain visible.

A Twitter spokesman said the account had been put into read-only mode because of tweets containing a broadcast in violation of their rules, which it wants Jones to delete.

However, the separate Infowars account remains active.

The move follows weeks of pressure on Twitter to follow other tech companies, including Facebook and Youtube, in banning some of Mr Jones’ content.

Twitter’s chief executive, Jack Dorsey, had previously said the conspiracy theorist would not be banned because he was yet to breach any rules.

“We know that’s hard for many but the reason is simple: he hasn’t violated our rules,” Dorsey said last week.

“We’ll enforce if he does. And we’ll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren’t artificially amplified.”

Jones, who has some 889,000 followers, claims the Sandy Hook Elementary School gun attack was a hoax, leading to legal action against him from the families of some of the victims.

Picture: Infowars Press Kit