Twitter has cut off Alex Jones from key functions of his account after the founder and star of conspiracy site Infowars violated another Twitter policy.

Jones' account has been placed in a read-only mode for seven days, Twitter confirmed Tuesday, meaning he can still browse Twitter posts, but he can't interact with other users by tweeting or retweeting or liking other posts. Jones is also required to delete the offending tweet, Twitter said, although it wasn't immediately clear which tweet had been singled out.

The action comes about a week after Twitter began clamping down on the right-wing conspiracy theorist, deleting several of Jones' and Infowars' tweets and videos.

Jones has been widely criticized for promoting untrue, virulent hypotheses about tragic events, like the 2001 terrorist attacks on World Trade Center in New York that killed nearly 3,000 people and the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut that killed 26 students and staff.

Several Silicon Valley giants -- Facebook, Google's YouTube, Apple, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Vimeo and Spotify -- banned the notorious conspiracy site from their platforms. The tech giants said they don't tolerate hate speech and Jones' Infowars violated their community standards and guidelines.

Twitter initially resisted calls to remove Infowars content, even appearing on conservative commentator Sean Hannity's radio show last week to argue that InforWars hadn't violated Twitter's rules.

"We'll enforce if he does," Dorsey said at the time. "And we'll continue to promote a healthy conversational environment by ensuring tweets aren't artificially amplified."

Eventually, Twitter ended up deleting some of Jones' and Infowars' posts. Jones didn't immediately respond to requests for comment.

Unanswered questions

The suspension comes as Silicon Valley grapples with the power of its platforms as some of the world's most influential distributors of news and information. Facebook, Google and Twitter have been under intense criticism for failing to prevent abuse by Russian trolls who used their service to try to meddle in the 2016 US election and sow discord among voters. Top leaders from those companies, reportedly including CEO Jack Dorsey, are expected to testify before Congress next month to address those issues.

Jones' suspension still leaves many questions unanswered -- including, how will Twitter deal with him after those seven days are up? The decisions of the tech platforms to ban or suspend Jones is also likely to stir scrutiny from critics who see the penalties as internet censorship.

Tech CEOs have long wanted to stay out of making these types of decisions. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg has said repeatedly he doesn't feel comfortable with his company being the "arbiters of truth." But the situation with Jones -- because of his influence and the size of his audience -- was a high-profile case that forced the tech giants to reckon with the bounds of free speech on their platforms.

Dorsey will be on the NBC Nightly News on Wednesday to talk about the decision to give Jones a "time-out," anchor Lester Holt tweeted.

First published August 14, 6:08 p.m. PT.
Updated, August 15, 7:49 a.m. PT: Adds information throughout.

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