Roku TV removed conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ InfoWars channel just days after users spotted it on the streaming platform.
A Twitter user spotted the InfoWars channel on the Roku Channel Store on Monday, though it’s unclear if Roku ever removed the channel when other streaming giants canned Jones amid his legal battle with families of Sandy Hook school shooting victims, who Jones suggested did not exist.
Roku told Mashable that InfoWars was “not currently in violation” of their content policies, adding, “we are not promoting or being paid to distribute InfoWars. We do not have a commercial relationship with the InfoWars.”
The news quickly spread and users slammed the company for allowing Jones to reach their audience. Jones was previously banned by Apple, YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, and Twitter.
After hours of backlash, Roku announced that they have pulled the InfoWars channel from its platform.
“After the InfoWars channel became available, we heard from concerned parties and have determined that the channel should be removed from our platform,” the company said in a tweet. “Deletion from the channel store and platform has begun and will be completed shortly.”
Sandy Hook families slam Roku:
Josh Kossoff, an attorney for the firm representing Sandy Hook families in their lawsuit against Jones, said nothing could justify Roku’s decision to offer the InfoWars channel.
“Roku’s shocking decision to carry Infowars and provide a platform for Alex Jones is an insult to the memory of the 26 children and educators killed at Sandy Hook,” the statement said. “Worse, it interferes with families’ efforts to prevent people like Jones from profiting off innocent victims whose lives have been turned upside down by unspeakable loss. We call on Roku to realize this and immediately pull the program. Until then, the families will be switching to alternate streaming providers that know the difference between authentic – if provocative – opinions and a lying opportunist seeking to make money by any means possible. There is no amount of anticipated revenue that could possibly justify Roku’s calculated decision.”
News comes amid Sandy Hook trial:
“The lawsuit plaintiffs—family of eight Sandy Hook victims—cited harassment from Infowars fans, including death threats and ‘strange individuals videotaping them and their children’ in their defamation suit against Jones,” Newsweek reported. “On Saturday, Judge Barbara Bellis of the Connecticut Superior Court ordered Jones to surrender internal Infowars documents related to the shooting and detail the conspiracy outlet’s marketing strategies.”
“From the beginning, we have alleged that Alex Jones and his financial network trafficked in lies and hate in order to profit from the grief of Sandy Hook families,” attorney Chris Mattei said in a statement.
