Six months after Apple, Spotify, Twitter, Facebook, and other media companies banned Infowars — a program produced by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, who was among a vocal minority denying 12/14 ever happened — its producers were notified that another entertainment streaming service was dropping the program channel from its lineup.

The Newtown Bee first learned about the program being added to the streaming service on Tuesday, January 14, after receiving a notice from the law firm representing a number of Sandy Hook families who lost loved ones in the mass shooting and who are suing Jones after his repeated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax. By Tuesday evening, Roku had announced it would in fact not be hosting the controversial program. 

Josh Koskoff, the Koskoff, Koskoff, & Bieder attorney representing several Sandy Hook families initially said, “Roku’s shocking decision to carry Infowars and provide a platform for Alex Jones is an insult to the memory of the 26 children and educators killed at Sandy Hook. Worse, it interferes with families’ efforts to prevent people like Jones from profiting off innocent victims whose lives have been turned upside down by unspeakable loss.”

Many people across the country apparently agreed, joining the law firm, the Sandy Hook survivors it is representing, and a groundswell of consumers and Roku owners in demanding Roku immediately pull the program.

Their outcry was heard, and just before 9 pm Tuesday evening, The Newtown Bee received the following statement from Roku’s Eric Savitz, senior director, Corporate Communications for the Los Gatos, Calif., company: "After the InfoWars channel became available, we heard from concerned parties and have determined that the channel should be removed from our platform. Deletion from the channel store and platform has begun and will be completed shortly.”

Mr Koskoff and Chris Mattei are the lead plaintiffs’ attorneys in Lafferty v Jones et al. In the statement ahead of Roku’s decision, Mr Koskoff said, “...the families will be switching to alternate streaming providers that know the difference between authentic — if provocative — opinions and a lying opportunist seeking to make money by any means possible.”

The families allege a years-long campaign of abusive and outrageous false statements in which Jones and the other defendants have developed, amplified, and perpetuated claims that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged and that the 26 families who lost loved ones that day are paid actors who faked the deaths of their relatives.