Alex Jones says YouTube will delete Infowars channel

Infowars founder Alex Jones on Saturday claimed that YouTube is poised to delete the conspiracy outlet’s channel and all of the videos posted to it.

“The Alex Jones channel with billions of views is frozen. We have been told it will be deleted tomorrow and all 33 thousands videos will be erased. We just set up this new page subscribe if you want to see what the SPLC wants censored,” Jones tweeted, using an acronym for the Southern Poverty Law Center, which monitors hate groups. 

The Alex Jones channel with billions of views is frozen. We have been told it will be deleted tomorrow and all 33 thousands videos will be erased. We just set up this new page subscribe if you want to see what the SPLC wants censored.. https://t.co/0sGkMNUCPt

— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) March 3, 2018

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YouTube did not immediately respond to The Hill’s request for comment.

A technology reporter for BuzzFeed News tweeted, however, that YouTube told him Jones’s claim was untrue.

I reached out to YouTube about this – it’s not true. Been informed there’s no plan to erase the channel tomorrow, as Jones says. https://t.co/VFiAIesB8A

— Charlie Warzel (@cwarzel) March 4, 2018

It’s not clear why the video streaming service would delete the account, though Jones said in a live stream on Facebook on Friday that Infowars had received a third strike from YouTube. Users are banned from the website if they receive three strikes within three months.

Jones set up another YouTube channel on Friday called “Infowars Censored.” As of Saturday night, eight videos had been posted on that account. 

Infowars has gained a reputation for pushing right-wing conspiracy theories. The outlet’s YouTube channel received two strikes from the streaming service in recent weeks for posting conspiracy-laden videos about the deadly Feb. 14 shooting at a South Florida high school.

A CNN report published Saturday also indicated that a number of major companies and brands had pulled advertisements from Infowar videos after they became aware that the ads were being run on the channel.