Twitter has permanently banned far-right media personality Alex Jones for violating its policy against "abusive behavior."
Jones, who is known as a conspiracy theorist, has about 900,000 followers on Twitter. His Infowars website has hundreds of thousands of followers, as well.
Twitter accused Jones of violating its policy after he was seen on television berating and insulting a CNN reporter waiting to enter congressional hearings on social media policies.
Jones called the reporter a smiling "possum caught doing some really nasty stuff" and also made fun of his clothes.
The Twitter logo appears on a phone post on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange.. VOA
Twitter had previously suspended Jones' account, but now he is banned from posting on the social media site.
Jones has yet to comment.
Jones is one of the country's most controversial media figures, known for saying the President George W. Bush White House was responsible for the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. He also called the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary school massacre a fake. Some of the parents of the murdered children are suing Jones.
Alex Jones from Infowars.com speaks during a rally in support of Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump near the Republican National Convention in Cleveland. VOA
The congressional hearings were focused on whether such social media sites as Google and Facebook are prepared against fake foreign accounts that may be aimed at influencing U.S. elections.
The hearings came just after President Donald Trump accused Google's search engine of being biased against him. (VOA)