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Alex Jones even lies about his app store rankings

[Photo: Flickr user Mark Taylor]

BY Mark Sullivan1 minute read

Conspiracy theorist/hate-monger Alex Jones said live on his Wednesday broadcast that his Infowars app is the No. 1 news app in both Apple’s App Store and in Google Play store.

It is not. It’s No. 3 in the App Store in the “News” category, and No. 5 in the Google Play store in the “News & Magazines” category.

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The Infowars iOS and Android apps have shot up the app charts after numerous tech companiesbanned Jones’s content, or banned Jones completely, from their platforms. Apple removed Jones’s podcasts from its Podcasts app but left the Infowars iOS app in its app store. Google’s YouTube removed Jones’s channels, but also kept the Infowars app available.

It’s possible Jones could have been referring to the fact that the Infowars app is the No. 1 trending app at the Google Play store, although he didn’t say that.

Jones made the “No. 1” claim at the front of his show, and later said, “Our news app is No. 1 worldwide,” going into a commercial break.

The broadcast included back-to-back commercials promoting the Infowars app, directly appealing to listeners to go to the app stores and download the app so that they may “join the Infowar.” Such appeals may be pushing up downloads, but it’s more likely–as a number of the app listing commenters write–that people are rushing to download the app before Apple and Google remove it.

Jones opened the show talking about how the tech platforms are trying to prevent the public from hearing his views as the 2018 midterms approach. He said the bans are a “last-ditch effort” to silence his voice and the voices of other right-wingers like Mike Cernovich.


Jared Newman contributed to this report.

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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Mark Sullivan is a senior writer at Fast Company, covering emerging tech, AI, and tech policy. Before coming to Fast Company in January 2016, Sullivan wrote for VentureBeat, Light Reading, CNET, Wired, and PCWorld More


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