Right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has withdrawn a lawsuit accusing PayPal of engaging in “viewpoint-based censorship” by refusing to process payments to his company.
Jones, who owns Infowars.com, Prisonplanet.com and the ecommerce site InfowarsStore.com, said in court papers filed Monday that he will take his battle with PayPal to an arbitrator.
“PayPal’s User Agreement contains an arbitration clause that may apply to this dispute,” his newest court papers state. “Rather than burden the parties and the Court with motion practice regarding the enforceability of the arbitration provision, FSS plans to proceed with its dispute through arbitration.”
Among his more famous conspiracy theories, Jones claimed, without evidence, that the government placed chemicals in the water to turn frogs gay. He also claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook shooting, which claimed the lives of 26 people, was fake. Jones currently faces a defamation lawsuit by families of victims of that shooting.
In September, PayPal stopped processing payments to Jones' ecommerce site, which sells “Alpha Power” -- a supplement that promises buyers the ability to “discover what it feels like to be an alpha male all over again,” the book The Clintons' War On Women, authored by Roger Stone and Robert Morrow, and other merchandise.
PayPal's move came soon after other tech companies -- including Apple, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter -- also banned Jones.
Jones responded to the ban by suing PayPal, arguing that the move reflects discrimination in Silicon Valley against “politically conservative entities and individuals.”
He dropped the suit “without prejudice,” meaning that he can theoretically bring the case again in the future.