Photo Illustration by Elizabeth Brockway/The Daily Beast/Getty
While the online video platform Rumble has long taken criticism for amplifying right-wing misinformation and conspiracy theories, the video-hosting service is preparing to head in an even darker direction, hiring one of Alex Jones’ lawyers to draft new content moderation policies that remove an existing ban on material that promotes or incites hate groups.
In June, Rumble put one of Jones’ longtime defamation attorneys in charge of overhauling the site’s moderation rules. And he made some unsettling changes.
The attorney, Robert Barnes, is a frequent Infowars guest and Jones’ top Sandy Hook defamation attorney for more than three years. But while Barnes wasn’t in the Texas courtroom during the explosive final days of Jones’ recent multimillion-dollar defeat, he did step up to broadcast an “opening statement” to a critical shadow jury: the Infowars audience.