Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey said on Wednesday that he hopes Alex Jones’ “timeout” from the platform will prompt some reflection from the noted conspiracy theorist.
The Infowars host was suspended for a week on Tuesday for posting a video on Periscope, which is owned by Twitter, in which he called for supporters to prepare their “battle rifles” against the mainstream media, left-wing protest groups that label themselves “antifa” or “antifascist,” and “Chicom operatives.”
In an interview with NBC News’ Lester Holt, Dorsey explained that Twitter had put Jones in a “timeout” so he would temporarily be unable to tweet. Holt said that a timeout appeared to be a “minor” response.
“Any suspension, whether it be a permanent one or a temporary one, makes someone think about their actions and behaviors,” Dorsey told Holt in an interview that is set to air Wednesday evening.
“You think Alex Jones is going to change his behavior based on a timeout?” Holt asked.
“I don’t know. We have found that it does have the potential to change — impact and change behavior. So — whether it works within this case to change some of those behaviors and change some of those actions, I don’t know. But this is consistent with how we enforce.”
Apple, Facebook, YouTube, and other tech companies cut content from Jones and Infowars from their platforms last week, citing violations of the their policies on hate speech. Though Twitter initially stated Jones had not breached content policy, amid mounting pressure the platform did delete several of their videos last week after finding violations.
[Related: ‘Survival of our democracy’ depends on banning sites like InfoWars, Dem senator says]
