Facebook joins YouTube and scrubs videos from pages belonging to InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

Lucas Jackson/Reuters

Alex Jones speaks near the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, Ohio, July 2016.

• Facebook has removed four videos on pages belonging to InfoWars and its founder, Alex Jones, for violating the company's community standards, according to CNN.
• The spokesperson said that the community standards "make it clear" that content that "encourages physical harm [bullying], or attacks someone based on their religious affiliation or gender identity [hate speech]" is prohibited on the social media site.
• Three of the videos were brought to Facebook's attention on Wednesday, according to the spokesperson, and the fourth video was reported a month ago but was not immediately taken down due to a mistake during initial review.
• Facebook's decision comes one day after YouTube removed four videos linked to Jones - in the videos, Jones denounced Muslim immigrants to Europe and the creators of a transgender cartoon.

Facebook has reportedly removed four videos on pages belonging to InfoWars and its founder, Alex Jones, for violating the company's community standards, a spokesperson said in a CNN report published Thursday.

The spokesperson added that the community standards "make it clear" that content that "encourages physical harm [bullying], or attacks someone based on their religious affiliation or gender identity [hate speech]" is prohibited on the social media site.

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Three of the videos were brought to Facebook's attention on Wednesday, according to the spokesperson, and the fourth video was reported a month ago but was not immediately taken down due to a mistake during initial review.

After repeated "strikes," or violations, on his content, Facebook said it warned Jones of a possible 30-day ban.

Facebook's decision comes one day after YouTube removed four videos by Jones. In the videos, he denounced Muslim immigrants to Europe and the creators of a transgender cartoon.

"YouTube has removed four Infowars videos that were critical of liberalism," Jones said in a statement on social media, in which he also urged people to look at the videos on his website and decide for themselves.

A spokesperson for Google's YouTube, who asked not to be named citing security concerns, declined to comment directly about the Jones videos, but said in a statement, "We have longstanding policies against child endangerment and hate speech."

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"We apply our policies consistently according to the content in the videos, regardless of the speaker or the channel."

The videos, which included a clip of a man pushing a child to the ground, were posted on Jones' Infowars website.

Infowars posted a statement on its website in which it said YouTube had slapped the Jones channel with a community strike, meaning he could not broadcast live on YouTube for 90 days.

Under YouTube policy, the Alex Jones Channel, which has more than 2.4 million subscribers, could be permanently terminated if he received another two community strikes within three months.

In one of the videos that Jones said had been removed from YouTube, he spoke against an online series called "Drag Tots" with animated drag queen characters. Jones compared the creators of the series to Satanists, criticized them for appealing to children, and warned of divine judgment.

In two other videos he said were removed by YouTube, Jones suggested Muslims who immigrated to Europe were gaining control of countries on that continent.

Since founding Infowars in 1999, Jones has built a vast audience. In extreme theories, he has suggested that the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington were staged by the government.

The parents of two children who died in the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre in Connecticut sued Jones for defamation in April, accusing him and Infowars of engaging in a campaign of "false, cruel, and dangerous assertions."

Reuters contributed reporting.