Google finally boots the InfoWars app, 18 months after Apple

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• Google has removed the InfoWars Android app from its Play Store.
• According to WIRED, the move was prompted by InfoWars founder Alex Jones disputing the need for social distancing, shelter in place measures, and quarantine efforts in a video published on the app.
• Jones espouses conspiracy theories on a wide range of topics, and has been banned from numerous social media sites.
• Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.
• Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

Google has removed the InfoWars Android app from its Play Store after it questioned widely-accepted health advice for dealing with COVID-19.

According to WIRED, the move was prompted by InfoWars founder Alex Jones disputing the need for social distancing, shelter in place, and quarantine efforts in a video published on the app. Google confirmed that it had removed the app on Friday.

The InfoWars app has not been available for the iPhone since September 2018, after Apple permanently banned the app for violating its policies on “objectionable content.”

InfoWars is best known as a vehicle for its founder Alex Jones, a notorious purveyor of conspiracy theories on just about every topic. It has also been banned from numerous social media sites, including Facebook and Twitter, often for violating hate speech policies. 

Jones has claimed that the Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax using child actors. He also boosted the false “Pizzagate” theory, a bizarre conspiracy that claimed a child sex ring was being run from the basement of a Washington, D.C. pizza restaurant. He was threatened with a lawsuit by the restaurant’s owner and forced to apologize. 

Google did not immediately respond to Business Insider’s requests for comment.

SEE ALSO: Leaked emails reveal Facebook’s intense internal discussion over Alex Jones’ ‘anti-semitic’ post on Instagram

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