Twitter has finally pulled the plug on the accounts of conspiracy theorist and all-round internet plague, Alex Jones.
Last month, CEO Jack Dorsey originally decided he wasn't going to permanently ban the InfoWars conspiracy theorist, because his particular brand of right-wing righteousness wasn't actually breaking any of Twitter's guidelines.
However, the platform did react to Jones last month, issuing a temporary week long suspension after he incited violence in a Periscope video broadcasted to Twitter.
That temporary ban has now become a much-needed permanent one. Tweets published on the Twitter Safety account stated that Jones' accounts have been banned due to policy violations.
Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ past violations. https://t.co/gckzUAV8GL
— Twitter Safety (@TwitterSafety) September 6, 2018
The account also says it'll try to avoid Jones using or creating altnernate accounts in order to circumvent the ban.
Under pressure
Dorsey's decision to perma-ban Jones comes he attended a congressional hearing on Wednesday, where he was asked a number of questions about Twitter's guidelines and policies. He was also grilled over how the platform deals with rule breakers such as Alex Jones.
Despite concerns and multiple queries from congress that Twitter algorithms were creating a political bias, Dorsey insisted that the platform moderates profiles based on behaviour, and that politics does not come in to play.