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Why was Alex Jones banned on YouTube? Podcaster's channel reinstated on the streaming platform

Alex Jones' sudden return on YouTube years after his ban has raised curiosity over the reason behind his initial ban from the video streaming platform.
posted by Akanksha Mishra
Thursday 9/25/2025 at 8:05AM EDT
  • AUSTIN, TX - APRIL 18: Infowars host Alex Jones arrives at the Texas State Capital building on April 18, 2020 in Austin, Texas. The protest was organized by Infowars host Owen Shroyer who is joining other protesters across the country in taking to the streets to call for the country to be opened up despite the risk of the COVID-19. (Photo by Sergio Flores/Getty Images)
    AUSTIN, TX - APRIL 18: Infowars host Alex Jones arrives at the Texas State Capital building on April 18, 2020 in Austin, Texas. The protest was organized by Infowars host Owen Shroyer who is joining other protesters across the country in taking to the streets to call for the country to be opened up despite the risk of the COVID-19. (Photo by Sergio Flores/Getty Images)

    After seven years of Alex Jones's channel being banned from YouTube (and other social media platforms), the conspiracy theorist got reinstated on the video streaming platform this week. 

    According to screenshots shared by @dom_lucre on X, there is a channel named @AlexJonesLive on YouTuber with over 17K subscribers and just 1 video, which speaks about FBI James Comey's potential indictment.

    An NPR News article (published on August 6, 2018) reports that Alex Jones - and his Infowars website - was banned from YouTube due to his repeated violation of platform policies on glorifying violence and hate speech. 

    In addition to YouTube, other digital giants like Facebook and Apple also took down Jones' handles, and so did Spotify. Meanwhile, all five podcasts related to Jones that aired on Apple iTunes were also deleted. 

    The news outlet claims that prior to banning Alex Jones, both Facebook and YouTube had warned the host of his accumulating "strikes" for violating their community guidelines. 

    A YouTube spokesperson addressed Alex Jones' ban at the time, saying:

    "When users violate these policies repeatedly, like our policies against hate speech and harassment or our terms prohibiting circumvention of our enforcement measures, we terminate their accounts."

    While Infowars responded to the bans by accusing the companies of trying to censor him, it had no impact on the decision. 

    Alex Jones appealed the Supreme Court to review his Sandy Hook judgment

    The news of Alex Jones' YouTube account being reinstated comes weeks after the conspiracy theorist appealed to the Supreme Court for a review of his $1.4 billion judgment in the 2012 Sandy Hook defamation lawsuit. 

    The lawsuit, which was initially being tied in Connecticut, found Jones and his company, Infowars, liable for inflicting emotional distress to the relatives of the shooting's victims without holding a trial. 

    Per AP News, the default ruling was made by Judge Barbara Bellis, who made it after Jones failed to turn over certain evidence to the families involved. 

    However, Jones' lawyers - Shelby Jordan, Alan Daughtry, and Ben Broocks - insist that the ruling was made on "trivial" reasons, despite Jones allegedly complying with court rulings. The petition they filed in the Supreme Court:

    "The media landscape is rife with groups challenging various events, including Holocaust denial, moon landing skepticism, 9/11 conspiracy theories, and even flat Earth claims. However, such statements critique or dismiss the events themselves, not the character, conduct, or reputation of those associated with them."

    ​It also stated that if the default judgment on the Sandy Hook lawsuit stood, it would "result in self-censorship fear of suits". 

    TOPICS: Alex Jones