It didn't come from network news. I'm sorry that you can't discern shit from Shinola. It's precisely that failing that has you falling for whatever conspiracy theory reinforces your beliefs.
NPR bad, INFO Wars good? Not to educated sane people.
Quite a roster of really grade A bat shit....
InfoWars is a far-right American conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones.[14] It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.[15]
Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in studios at an undisclosed location in an industrial area in the outskirts of Austin, Texas.[16] The InfoWars website receives approximately 10 million monthly visits, making its reach greater than some mainstream news websites such as The Economist and Newsweek.[17][18]
The site has regularly published fake stories which have been linked to harassment of victims.[a] In February 2018, Jones, the publisher, director and owner of InfoWars, was accused of discrimination and sexually harassing employees.[25] InfoWars, and in particular Jones, advocate numerous conspiracy theories particularly around purported domestic false flag operations by the U.S. Government (which they allege include the 9/11 attacks and Sandy Hook shootings). InfoWars has issued retractions various times as a result of legal challenges.[21][22]
Jones has had contentious material removed, and has also been suspended and banned from many platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes,[26][27][28][29] and Roku.[30]
InfoWars earns revenue from the sale of products pitched by Jones during the show. It has been called as much "an online store that uses Mr. Jones's commentary to move merchandise", as a media outlet.[31]
Controversies
Promotion of conspiracy theories and fake news
InfoWars disseminates various conspiracy theories, such as speaking against the HPV vaccine[19] and claiming that the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was part of a conspiracy.[47]
InfoWars advocates New World Order conspiracy theories, 9/11 conspiracy theories, chemtrails, conspiracy theories involving Bill Gates, supposed covert government weather control programs, claims of rampant domestic false flag operations by the US Government (including 9/11) and the unsupported claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 US presidential election.[48][49]
Jones frequently uses InfoWars to assert that mass shootings are conspiracies or "false flag" operations, claims which are often then spread.[50][51] This has been characterized as Second Amendment "fan fiction".[52]
Infowars has published and promoted fake news,[23] and Jones has been accused of knowingly misleading people to make money.[53] As part of the probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Infowars was investigated to see if it was complicit in the dissemination of fake news stories distributed by Russian bots.[54]
From May 2014 to November 2017, InfoWars republished articles from multiple sources without permission, including over 1,000 from Russian state-sponsored news network RT, as well as stories from news outlets such as CNN, the BBC, and The New York Times which Salon said were "dwarfed" by those from RT.[55][56]
Claims of false flag school shootings
InfoWars has regularly accused mass shootings of being false flags and survivors of them as crisis actors by the United States government. InfoWars host Alex Jones has promoted the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories. Jones was widely criticized for claiming that the Sandy Hook massacre was "completely fake" and "manufactured".[20]
In March 2018, six families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the attack, filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones for his role in spreading conspiracy theories about the shooting.[57][58][59][60] In December 2019, InfoWars and Jones were ordered to pay $100,000 in legal fees prior to the trial for another defamation lawsuit from a different family whose son was killed in the shooting.[61][62]
Jones has also accused David Hogg and other survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting of being crisis actors.[63]
Harassment by InfoWars viewership
InfoWars promoted fabricated Pizzagate claims. The fake claims led to harassment of the owner and employees of Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C. pizzeria targeted by the conspiracy theories, including threatening phone calls, online harassment, and death threats. The owner sent a letter to Jones in February 2017 demanding a retraction or apology. (Such a letter is required before a party may seek punitive damages in an action for libel under Texas law).[64]
After receiving the letter, Jones issued an apology in March 2017. Alex Jones said that "I want our viewers and listeners to know that we regret any negative impact our commentaries may have had on Mr. Alefantis, Comet Ping Pong, or its employees. We apologize to the extent our commentaries could be construed as negative statements about Mr. Alefantis or Comet Ping Pong, and we hope that anyone else involved in commenting on Pizzagate will do the same thing." InfoWars also issued a correction on its website.[65]
InfoWars reporter Owen Shroyer also targeted East Side Pies, a group of pizza restaurants in Austin, Texas, with similar fake "Pizzagate" claims. Following the claims, the pizza business was targeted by phone threats, vandalism, and harassment, which the co-owners called "alarming, disappointing, disconcerting and scary."[24]
Chobani retraction
In 2017, InfoWars (along with similar sites) published a fake story about U.S. yogurt manufacturer Chobani, with headlines including "Idaho yogurt maker caught importing migrant rapists" and "Allegations that Chobani's practice of hiring refugees brought crime and tuberculosis to Twin Falls". Chobani ultimately filed a federal lawsuit against Jones, which led to a settlement on confidential terms in May 2017. Jones offered an apology and retraction, admitting that he had made "certain statements" on InfoWars "that I now understand to be wrong".[21][22]
Sexual harassment and antisemitism claims
In February 2018, Alex Jones was accused by former employees of antisemitism and sexual harassment of women staff members. Jones denied the allegations.[66][67]
Two former employees filed complaints against Jones.[68]
Removals from other websites
On July 27, 2018, Facebook suspended the official page of Alex Jones for 30 days. The website claims that Jones participated in hate speech against Robert Mueller.[69] This was swiftly followed by action from other bodies- on August 6, Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify all removed content by Alex Jones and InfoWars from their platforms for violating their policies. YouTube removed channels associated with Infowars, including The Alex Jones Channel, which had gained 2.4 million subscriptions prior to its removal.[70] On Facebook, four pages associated with InfoWars and Alex Jones were removed due to repeated violations of the website's policies. Apple removed all podcasts associated with Jones from its iTunes platform and its podcast app.[28] On August 13, Vimeo removed all of Jones' videos because they "violated our terms of service prohibitions on discriminatory and hateful content".[71] By February 2019, a total of 89 pages associated with InfoWars or Alex Jones had been removed from Facebook due to its recidivism policy, which is designed to prevent circumventing a ban.[72] In May 2019, President Donald Trump tweeted or retweeted defenses of people associated with InfoWars, including editor Paul Joseph Watson and host Alex Jones, after the Facebook ban.[73]
Jones' accounts have also been removed from Pinterest,[74] Mailchimp[75] and LinkedIn.[76] As of early August, Jones still had active accounts on Instagram[77] and Twitter.[78][79] Twitter, however, ultimately decided to permanently deactivate Jones' account as well as the InfoWars account in September 2018.[80]
Jones tweeted a Periscope video calling on others "to get their battle rifles ready against antifa, the mainstream media, and Chicom operatives".[81] In the video he also says, "Now is time to act on the enemy before they do a false flag." Twitter cited this as the reason to suspend his account for a week on August 14.[82]
On September 6, Twitter permanently banned InfoWars and Alex Jones for repeated violations of the site's terms and conditions. Twitter cited abusive behavior, namely a video that "shows Jones shouting at and berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy for some 10 minutes during congressional hearings about social media."[29]
On September 7, 2018, the Infowars app was removed from the Apple App Store.[83] On September 20, 2018, PayPal informed InfoWars that they would cease processing payments in 10 days. The reason cited was that Infowars' "promotion of hate and discrimination runs counter to our core value of inclusion."[
NPR bad, INFO Wars good? Not to educated sane people.
Quite a roster of really grade A bat shit....
InfoWars is a far-right American conspiracy theory and fake news website owned by Alex Jones.[14] It was founded in 1999, and operates under Free Speech Systems LLC.[15]
Talk shows and other content for the site are created primarily in studios at an undisclosed location in an industrial area in the outskirts of Austin, Texas.[16] The InfoWars website receives approximately 10 million monthly visits, making its reach greater than some mainstream news websites such as The Economist and Newsweek.[17][18]
The site has regularly published fake stories which have been linked to harassment of victims.[a] In February 2018, Jones, the publisher, director and owner of InfoWars, was accused of discrimination and sexually harassing employees.[25] InfoWars, and in particular Jones, advocate numerous conspiracy theories particularly around purported domestic false flag operations by the U.S. Government (which they allege include the 9/11 attacks and Sandy Hook shootings). InfoWars has issued retractions various times as a result of legal challenges.[21][22]
Jones has had contentious material removed, and has also been suspended and banned from many platforms, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, iTunes,[26][27][28][29] and Roku.[30]
InfoWars earns revenue from the sale of products pitched by Jones during the show. It has been called as much "an online store that uses Mr. Jones's commentary to move merchandise", as a media outlet.[31]
Controversies
Promotion of conspiracy theories and fake news
InfoWars disseminates various conspiracy theories, such as speaking against the HPV vaccine[19] and claiming that the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was part of a conspiracy.[47]
InfoWars advocates New World Order conspiracy theories, 9/11 conspiracy theories, chemtrails, conspiracy theories involving Bill Gates, supposed covert government weather control programs, claims of rampant domestic false flag operations by the US Government (including 9/11) and the unsupported claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 US presidential election.[48][49]
Jones frequently uses InfoWars to assert that mass shootings are conspiracies or "false flag" operations, claims which are often then spread.[50][51] This has been characterized as Second Amendment "fan fiction".[52]
Infowars has published and promoted fake news,[23] and Jones has been accused of knowingly misleading people to make money.[53] As part of the probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, Infowars was investigated to see if it was complicit in the dissemination of fake news stories distributed by Russian bots.[54]
From May 2014 to November 2017, InfoWars republished articles from multiple sources without permission, including over 1,000 from Russian state-sponsored news network RT, as well as stories from news outlets such as CNN, the BBC, and The New York Times which Salon said were "dwarfed" by those from RT.[55][56]
Claims of false flag school shootings
InfoWars has regularly accused mass shootings of being false flags and survivors of them as crisis actors by the United States government. InfoWars host Alex Jones has promoted the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories. Jones was widely criticized for claiming that the Sandy Hook massacre was "completely fake" and "manufactured".[20]
In March 2018, six families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the attack, filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones for his role in spreading conspiracy theories about the shooting.[57][58][59][60] In December 2019, InfoWars and Jones were ordered to pay $100,000 in legal fees prior to the trial for another defamation lawsuit from a different family whose son was killed in the shooting.[61][62]
Jones has also accused David Hogg and other survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting of being crisis actors.[63]
Harassment by InfoWars viewership
InfoWars promoted fabricated Pizzagate claims. The fake claims led to harassment of the owner and employees of Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C. pizzeria targeted by the conspiracy theories, including threatening phone calls, online harassment, and death threats. The owner sent a letter to Jones in February 2017 demanding a retraction or apology. (Such a letter is required before a party may seek punitive damages in an action for libel under Texas law).[64]
After receiving the letter, Jones issued an apology in March 2017. Alex Jones said that "I want our viewers and listeners to know that we regret any negative impact our commentaries may have had on Mr. Alefantis, Comet Ping Pong, or its employees. We apologize to the extent our commentaries could be construed as negative statements about Mr. Alefantis or Comet Ping Pong, and we hope that anyone else involved in commenting on Pizzagate will do the same thing." InfoWars also issued a correction on its website.[65]
InfoWars reporter Owen Shroyer also targeted East Side Pies, a group of pizza restaurants in Austin, Texas, with similar fake "Pizzagate" claims. Following the claims, the pizza business was targeted by phone threats, vandalism, and harassment, which the co-owners called "alarming, disappointing, disconcerting and scary."[24]
Chobani retraction
In 2017, InfoWars (along with similar sites) published a fake story about U.S. yogurt manufacturer Chobani, with headlines including "Idaho yogurt maker caught importing migrant rapists" and "Allegations that Chobani's practice of hiring refugees brought crime and tuberculosis to Twin Falls". Chobani ultimately filed a federal lawsuit against Jones, which led to a settlement on confidential terms in May 2017. Jones offered an apology and retraction, admitting that he had made "certain statements" on InfoWars "that I now understand to be wrong".[21][22]
Sexual harassment and antisemitism claims
In February 2018, Alex Jones was accused by former employees of antisemitism and sexual harassment of women staff members. Jones denied the allegations.[66][67]
Two former employees filed complaints against Jones.[68]
Removals from other websites
On July 27, 2018, Facebook suspended the official page of Alex Jones for 30 days. The website claims that Jones participated in hate speech against Robert Mueller.[69] This was swiftly followed by action from other bodies- on August 6, Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify all removed content by Alex Jones and InfoWars from their platforms for violating their policies. YouTube removed channels associated with Infowars, including The Alex Jones Channel, which had gained 2.4 million subscriptions prior to its removal.[70] On Facebook, four pages associated with InfoWars and Alex Jones were removed due to repeated violations of the website's policies. Apple removed all podcasts associated with Jones from its iTunes platform and its podcast app.[28] On August 13, Vimeo removed all of Jones' videos because they "violated our terms of service prohibitions on discriminatory and hateful content".[71] By February 2019, a total of 89 pages associated with InfoWars or Alex Jones had been removed from Facebook due to its recidivism policy, which is designed to prevent circumventing a ban.[72] In May 2019, President Donald Trump tweeted or retweeted defenses of people associated with InfoWars, including editor Paul Joseph Watson and host Alex Jones, after the Facebook ban.[73]
Jones' accounts have also been removed from Pinterest,[74] Mailchimp[75] and LinkedIn.[76] As of early August, Jones still had active accounts on Instagram[77] and Twitter.[78][79] Twitter, however, ultimately decided to permanently deactivate Jones' account as well as the InfoWars account in September 2018.[80]
Jones tweeted a Periscope video calling on others "to get their battle rifles ready against antifa, the mainstream media, and Chicom operatives".[81] In the video he also says, "Now is time to act on the enemy before they do a false flag." Twitter cited this as the reason to suspend his account for a week on August 14.[82]
On September 6, Twitter permanently banned InfoWars and Alex Jones for repeated violations of the site's terms and conditions. Twitter cited abusive behavior, namely a video that "shows Jones shouting at and berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy for some 10 minutes during congressional hearings about social media."[29]
On September 7, 2018, the Infowars app was removed from the Apple App Store.[83] On September 20, 2018, PayPal informed InfoWars that they would cease processing payments in 10 days. The reason cited was that Infowars' "promotion of hate and discrimination runs counter to our core value of inclusion."[
