Washington, D.C.—Today, following reporting by Right Wing Watch, a project of People For the American Way, pointing out how conspiracy theorist Alex Jones violated PayPal’s terms of service, the company announced it was dropping Jones’s organization Infowars from its service.
"Alex Jones' ability to profit from spreading malicious conspiracy theories and White supremacist messaging continues to shrink, and he has only himself to blame," Right Wing Watch editor Adele Stan said. "Our reporting brought to light multiple high-profile and egregious violations of PayPal's terms of use, and there was really no argument left for allowing him to profit from this service."
In PayPal’s user agreement, the company explicitly forbids users from providing “false, inaccurate or misleading information” and acting “in a manner that is defamatory, trade libelous, threatening or harassing.” The policy page also explains that violating those rules could result in the closure or suspension of a user’s PayPal account and “we may refuse to provide the PayPal services to you in the future.”
Right Wing Watch's research associate, Jared Holt, was previously credited for the social media posts that led to Jones and Infowars losing access to Spotify and other online media services.
Holt’s original post on the PayPal violations was posted on Aug. 13, after PayPal was offered and did not utilize a chance to comment on the piece.
Jones blamed Right Wing Watch for this latest loss of access on the Infowars site (archived using archive.is).