Twitter permanently banned right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his Infowars show for abusive behavior — a day after CEO Jack Dorsey testified before Congress about alleged "conservative bias" on the platform.
The company said Jones won't be able to create new accounts on Twitter or take over any existing ones. In a tweet, it said it would continue to monitor reports about other accounts potentially associated with Jones or Infowars, and will "take action" if it finds any attempts to circumvent the ban.
Twitter said Jones posted a video on Wednesday that violates the company's policy against "abusive behavior." That video showed Jones berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy for some 10 minutes in between two congressional hearings on social media. Dorsey testified at both hearings, but did not appear to witness the confrontation.
Jones had about 900,000 followers on Twitter. Infowars had about 430,000. Jones did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Twitter had previously suspended Jones for a week. But until now it had resisted muzzling Jones further. Other tech companies have limited Jones by suspending him for longer periods, as Facebook did, and by taking down his pages and radio stations.
Jones heckled Darcy in a Capitol Hill hallway where reporters were waiting to enter the House committee room. He criticized the journalist's reporting and appearance, referencing his "skinny jeans" and repeatedly saying, "just look at this guy's eyes" and "look at that smile."
At one point, he said Darcy was "smiling like a possum that crawled out of the rear end of a dead cow. That's what you look like. You look like a possum that got caught doing some really nasty stuff — in my view. You're a public figure too."
Darcy has aggressively questioned social media companies about the forbearance they showed Jones, asking why they have allowed him to remain on their platforms for as long as they have.
Jones is currently active on Facebook; his personal suspension there recently expired. Apple, YouTube and Spotify also permanently removed material Jones had published. Facebook did not immediately respond to a message asking whether it would also ban Jones.
Dorsey originally defended his company's decision not to ban Jones, tweeting that Jones "hasn't violated our rules" but if he does "we'll enforce."
"We're going to hold Jones to the same standard we hold to every account, not taking one-off actions to make us feel good in the short term, and adding fuel to new conspiracy theories," Dorsey tweeted on Aug. 7 , after the other companies took action against Jones.
But a week later Twitter joined the other tech companies in muzzling Jones, even if it was only for a week. It was a significant move for a company one of its executives once called the "free speech wing of the free speech party."
But critics warn there is another side to high-profile cases such as this one.
"We should be extremely careful before rushing to embrace an internet that is moderated by private companies by default," said David Greene, civil liberties director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation in an email last month. While high-profile cases of highly offensive content being taken down gets a lot of attention, he added, content moderation "continues to silence" the voices of people around the world struggling to be heard.
Associated Press writer Mary Clare Jalonick contributed to this story from Washington; AP technology writer Ryan Nakashima contributed from San Francisco.
It turns out, love may benefit from a little less labor.
Couples who spend money on time-saving services — like getting takeout, hiring a housecleaner or calling a dog walker — report greater relationship satisfaction, especially during stressful periods, says Ashley Whillans, a behavioral scientist and professor at Harvard Business School.
Whillans studies the “tradeoffs people make between time and money.”
“When you spend money to save time — hiring an accountant, a babysitter, a cleaner — you feel more control over your life,” she said. “That sense of autonomy boosts well-being.”
Not everyone can afford to outsource bigger household chores. But Whillans says even a little bit can help. She advises couples to take a “time audit” — examining how they spend their hours and what small changes could reclaim even a few moments.
“People underestimate how much these choices matter,” she said. “It’s not about luxury — it’s about freeing up time to connect.”
Whillans’ team tracked busy, dual-income couples — partners working full-time who often report feeling time-starved — and found consistent patterns. In one six-week diary study, couples who made “time-saving purchases” on a given day were happier and more satisfied with their relationships.
Simply outsourcing chores isn’t a magic fix, however.
“It’s about being intentional with the time you get back — using it to spend quality time together, to reconnect," Whillans said.
“Think of that half hour not as an opportunity to send more emails, but as a chance to spend time with your partner."
Targol Hasankhani, a Chicago-based marriage and family therapist, stressed that while outsourcing domestic labor can ease daily stress, it doesn’t replace communication. Juggling careers and kids takes a toll on families, and housework is often freighted with resentments over who is doing it.
“If conflict around chores is rooted in something deeper — like inequity or not feeling heard — hiring a cleaner won’t solve that,” she said.
Couples must dig deeper to address problems with many layers.
“It opens up time and space, but couples still have to know how to show up for each other in that space,” Hasankhani said.
Casey Mulligan Walsh, 71, a former speech pathologist and author in upstate New York, said the best part about hiring a housecleaner once a week was that it freed up time for her and her husband to spend together.
“My favorite day of the week was coming home to a clean house,” she said. “We’d go get coffee together instead of arguing about who should vacuum.”
Getting started on delegating household tasks isn’t easy for some couples, Whillans said. Besides the cost, "it takes time to find someone and coordinate — but the long-term payoff is real.”
And making such decisions together can deepen trust and a sense of teamwork.
For one Colorado couple, outsourcing started as an act of love.
“When I started dating, my now-husband noticed how hard I was working — at my job, at home and as a single mom,” said Melissa Jones, a 45-year-old teacher in Pueblo.
His Valentine's Day gift? A deep housecleaning.
“It was truly amazing,” Jones said. “After that, I kept it up on my own for years. When my husband and I moved in together, we decided to continue.”
“We’re able to make memories with each other, our kids and our families instead of spending weekends scrubbing floors," she said.
In Miami, Elizabeth Willard, 59, runs The Pickled Beet, a culinary service preparing customized meals.
“Most of the people I cook for are trying to invest in their health but don’t have the time,” she said, noting that families often juggle mixed dietary needs. “Sometimes the husband’s a carnivore and the wife’s vegetarian, one child’s celiac. They’re exhausted trying to make everyone happy.”
Her clients, often families with children and two working parents, are "not fighting over what’s for dinner. It’s one less daily decision.”
Whether ordering a pizza, paying a teenager to mow the lawn, or calling a car service to save 20 minutes, the outcome can be the same: Buying back time can buy peace.
FILE - Dog walker Kathleen Chirico strolls with a pack of dogs during a warm day along the Hudson River, May 2, 2018, in Hoboken, N.J. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez, File)
FILE - A couple stands on a jetty as the sun rises over the Atlantic Ocean in Bal Harbour, Fla., Sept. 19, 2020. (AP Photo/Wilfredo Lee, File)
