Apple says Infowars podcast violated company's hate speech guidelines, but implies its app doesn't violate App Store guidelines
here's Apple's reason why Reuters : Apple says it is monitoring Infowars app for content violations Don Reisinger / Fortune : Here's Why Apple Isn't Kicking Alex Jones' InfoWars Out of Its App Store Juli Clover / MacRumors : Apple Confirms Infowars App Won't Be Removed From App Store Luke Dormehl / Cult of Mac : Apple ‘monitoring’ Infowars app, but it's staying for now Rajesh Pandey / iPhone Hacks : Apple Will Not Remove Infowars App from the App Store Despite Removing Podcasts for Hate Speech Brian X. Chen / New York Times : The Internet Trolls Have Won. Sorry, There's Not Much You Can Do. MacDailyNews : Apple is monitoring Alex Jones' Infowars app for content violations as it becomes 3rd-most download app this week Chance Miller / 9to5Mac : Apple defends decision to allow Infowars in the App Store, saying it supports ‘all points of view’ CNBC : Apple allows Infowars in App Store even though it banned Alex Jones podcast from iTunes Tweets: Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : this got lost a bit in the late night publish...but Apple's explanation for keeping Infowars in the App Store is really cryptic and...perhaps a hint that its decision to remove Jones from ‘Podcasts/iTunes’ was not the Important Moral Stand that it was billed as http://twitter.com/... Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : Apple told us why it's keeping Infowars app up. Given that they took such unilateral action on the podcasts this distinction feels like the company is bending over backwards not to set precedent in its App Store (which unlike Podcasts generates serious $$) http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... http://twitter.com/... Charlie Warzel / @cwarzel : Also (and this is speculation!) if Apple wasn't hosting the podcasts it may have seen the removal as inconsequential and not the Huge Important Moral Stand that it was billed as http://www.buzzfeednews.com/ ... http://twitter.com/... See also Mediagazer
Context & Ripple Effects
Apple's position here is a two-track ruling: the removal of five of Infowars' six podcasts from iTunes for hate speech violations stands, but the standalone Infowars app is judged not to violate App Store guidelines and stays listed, with Apple saying it is monitoring it. The distinction matters because Apple's move was the catalyst for the whole wave — coverage shows other platforms following suit, and [[a:932319|Zuckerberg only decided to take down Infowars on Facebook after seeing news of Apple's podcast removals]].
The immediate side effect was perverse: after the bans, the Infowars app surged from 47th to 4th in the US iOS news charts. So at the moment of this story, Apple has cut the content but left the distribution channel open — and that channel is now more visible than before.
First-order effects
- Infowars keeps its App Store distribution while losing iTunes podcast reach, an inconsistency Alex Jones can point to as vindication even as his audio footprint shrinks.
- Apple puts itself in an active-monitoring posture on the app, meaning any further flagged content gives it grounds to reverse course without a new policy announcement.
Second-order effects
- The chart surge turns the app into the movement's primary surviving channel, raising the stakes on Apple's monitoring decision — every day it stays listed, the 'app vs. podcast' double standard draws more scrutiny.
- Other platforms that anchored their decisions to Apple's podcast removals now face the same question about their own app stores and distribution surfaces, since Apple itself hasn't answered it consistently.
Third-order effects
- The episode shows platform moderation operating surface-by-surface rather than publisher-by-publisher — content rules for podcasts, separate rules for apps — which invites pressure for unified publisher-level policies.
- The pattern resolves toward cascade enforcement: once the largest gatekeeper acts, rivals follow within days, and holdouts become the story — which is where this arc lands when Apple permanently bans the Infowars app from the App Store a month later.
The trend: Content moderation decisions are cascading across platforms from a single gatekeeper's move, while each platform reconciles its own inconsistent rules across different distribution surfaces.