Apple has removed InfoWars podcasts from its iTunes and Podcasts apps, but it’s stopping short of doing it in the App Store.
In a statement to BuzzFeed News, Apple confirmed that the controversial InfoWars’ InfoWars Official mobile app will remain in its App Store. The app allows you to stream programs from the conspiracy site and access content shared on InfoWars. Oddly enough, the shows you can stream from the app are the same programs Apple banned from its Podcasts app, according to Buzzfeed News.
Apple told BuzzFeed News in its statement that it “strongly supports all points of view” finding their way to its App Store “as long as the apps are respectful to users with differing guidelines, and follow our clear guidelines, ensuring the App Store is a safe marketplace for all.” The statement didn’t mention InfoWars Official by name, but considering it’s still available, Apple apparently believes it fits within those guidelines.
A deeper dive into Apple’s guidelines says the company bans apps that feature “content that is offensive, insensitive, upsetting, intended to disgust, or in exceptionally poor taste,” according to Buzzfeed News. To many, Alex Jones and his InfoWars content is offensive and in “exceptionally poor taste.”
Still, Apple is not alone in making one decision in one area and another elsewhere. Alphabet recently removed InfoWars from YouTube after saying that the channel violated its terms of service. YouTube said that it will remove content from its site when channels violate its “policies against hate speech.”
However, the InfoWars app is still available in Google’s Play app marketplace. The company told BuzzFeed News that it removes apps when they violate its “terms and conditions or our content policies.”
In other words, both Apple and Google appear to be watching.