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Infowars app deleted by google over false coronavirus claims.
Google deletes the Android version of the Infowars app from the Google Play online store after comments made by Infowars founder Alex Jones about the COVID-19 pandemic were deemed false and harmful. The company confirmed to Wired on Friday, and we couldn’t find the Infowars app in a search on the Play Store this evening.
The app was apparently deleted because of a video posted by radio host and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones that, according to Wired, “disputed the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine efforts meant to slow the spread of the novel coronavirus.” Before it was deleted, the app had more than 100,000 downloads, Wired reports.
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Google Play was the last major internet platform that provided an outlet for Infowars, which trades in right-wing conspiracy theories and fear-mongering. In September 2018, Apple banned the Infowars app from the App Store, citing its violation of the policy prohibiting “offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust or in exceptionally poor taste.” Jones and Infowars also have been banned by Google’s YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Apple Podcasts and Spotify for violating policies on hate speech and harassment.
Last week, Alex Jones was ordered by New York Attorney General Letitia James to stop selling Infowars products that were marketed as a treatment or cure for the coronavirus. “[Alex Jones’] latest mistruths are incredibly dangerous and pose a serious threat to the public health of New Yorkers and individuals across the nation,” James said in a statement.
Tech companies have also publicly committed to cracking down on coronavirus misinformation. Google has an “SOS Alert” in place for searches for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, that points to resources from the CDC and local governments at the top of search results. And a group of companies that includes Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Microsoft, Reddit, Twitter, and YouTube said they’re “jointly combating fraud and misinformation about the virus” in a statement issued on March 16th.
Apple permanently banned the Infowars app from the App Store in September 2018, citing App Store guidelines that forbid content that’s “offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, or in exceptionally poor taste.”
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