Lucas Jackson / Reuters
The loudmouth has been muted, at least partially. Alex Jones, the far-right shock jock Infowars host, has had some of his podcast content removed by the streaming service Spotify, which has branded it “hate content.” Some episodes of The Alex Jones Show podcast have been taken down, with the company saying in a statement: “We take reports of hate content seriously and review any podcast episode or song that is flagged by our community. Spotify can confirm it has removed specific episodes of The Alex Jones Show podcast for violating our hate-content policy.” However, most Infowars content appears to still be available on the service. Responding to the action, Jones—with a grim inevitability—claimed he was being persecuted, saying: “I was born in censorship. I was born being suppressed.” Among dozens of other false conspiracy theories he has touted, Jones has claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School mass shooting, which left 20 children and six adults dead, was a hoax and staged by actors.