Facebook removed 22 pages containing content related to far-right American conspiracy theory and fake news website InfoWars and its controversial host Alex Jones on Tuesday.
The decision was part of a wider effort made by the social media platform to better enforce its recently overhauled recidivism policy. A Facebook spokesperson told CNN Business that 89 pages were altogether removed on Tuesday afternoon.
"We use a broad set of signals to determine if a Page violates our recidivism policy and determined these Pages violated our policy for reasons including having similar titles to the Pages we unpublished and having the same admins," the spokesperson said.
It is not the first time Facebook has cracked down on Jones' divisive and extreme content. Last August, the social media platform removed four pages related to the conspiracy theorist and his fake news website on the grounds that they violated the company's policies that sought to stomp out hate speech, bullying and graphic violence.
Facebook later announced, in January, that they have extended their recidivism policy to prevent offenders from continuing to violate the company's rules and regulations through other pages.
"We've long prohibited people from creating new Pages, groups, events, or accounts that look similar to those we've previously removed for violating our Community Standards," the social media company said in a January 23 blog post. "However, we've seen people working to get around our enforcement by using existing Pages that they already manage for the same purpose as the Page we removed for violating our standards."
Facebook added: "To address this gap, when we remove a Page or group for violating our policies, we may now also remove other Pages and Groups even if that specific Page or Group has not met the threshold to be unpublished on its own."
While Jones' personal profile account still remains active on Facebook, one of the pages taken down on Tuesday had approximately 30,000 followers.
Last year, Twitter permanently banned Jones after he posted controversial videos to the platform that breached the company's abusive behavior policies. According to Twitter, abusive behavior is considered "an attempt to harass, intimidate or silence someone else's voice." The ban was also applied to the video streaming site Periscope.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
About the writer
To read how Newsweek uses AI as a newsroom tool, Click here.
