Several threatening and violent videos by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones have been removed from YouTube, but no one from the Google subsidiary wants to talk about it.
YouTube has banned four videos, Jones’s website Infowars claims, including one that shows a clip of a boy playfully punching a grown man, who then viciously kicks the boy to the ground. The boy starts screaming and holding his head. He appears to be in real pain. “Prevent liberalism,” the Infowars text reads. “Wear condoms.” The video is “is clearly a humorous commentary on how cry-bullies on the left constantly claim to be the victims while violently attacking other people,” Infowars claims.
Another banned video states falsely that by 2050 that most European countries will be majority Muslim, and that “Muslims raping” and burning down cities are responsible for “95% of the crime” in Europe.
But Jones himself appears to have taken down one of the most controversial—a video uploaded this week in which he threatens to shoot FBI special prosecutor Robert Mueller, while saying “You’re going to get it, or I’m going to die trying, bitch. Get ready.” The video was on the Alex Jones and Infowars YouTube channels yesterday, but links now lead to a message that says “This video has been removed by the user.”
Jones has spread his lies and conspiracy theories to millions of people via Google and Facebook platforms. The tech giants have profited from his content yet have been reluctant to publicly criticize him. A YouTube spokeswoman didn’t respond to multiple requests for comment about the Mueller video in recent days, or about the removal of the other Jones videos today (July 26). The Google press office sent a generic statement:
We have longstanding policies against child endangerment and hate speech. We apply our policies consistently according to the content in the videos, regardless of the speaker or the channel. We also have a clear three-strikes policy and we terminate channels when they receive three strikes in three months.
When pressed for specifics via email, an unnamed spokesperson running the Google press office account responded “We can confirm the details reported in The Verge.” The article referenced, however, has some inaccuracies, including claiming falsely that the video threatening Mueller was never uploaded to YouTube. Google’s press office didn’t respond to requests for a phone interview.
The FBI had no comment on whether the agency had pressured Jones to remove the video.
Earlier, a YouTube spokeswoman recently told the New York Post not to use her name in a story about Jones, citing “security concerns.” In 2016, after Jones claimed falsely that a Washington DC pizza parlor was a part of a child sex-trafficking ring, a man brought an assault rifle to the restaurant and fired shots inside.
Jones’s and his ex-wife Kelly have been embroiled in a custody battle over their three children, and she filed for an emergency restraining order today in Texas, citing YouTube pulling the videos as proof he is putting their children in danger. In addition, “he has made lurid videos talking about sex acts in front of the Jones children, is obsessed with pedophilia (the online discussion of which he has involved the Jones’ minor child) and yesterday made a video talking about five year olds being taught oral sex,” Kelly Jones said.