Elon Musk reinstates Alex Jones’ account on X
Tech billionaire Elon Musk has reinstated conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ account on the social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter. Musk asked users to vote in a poll to decide whether or not to lift a previous ban on Jones, which pre-dated his ownership of the platform. Around 70% of roughly two million respondents voted to lift the ban, prompting Musk to honor the result and reinstate Jones’ account.
Jones, who is known for sharing outlandish conspiracy theories, is most notorious for falsely claiming that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was “staged”. His conspiracy theory website, Infowars, has led to his removal from other major platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, and he was banned from Twitter in 2018 for breaching the site’s rules on abusive behavior.
Musk, who rejected calls from some of Jones’s supporters to reinstate his account after acquiring the platform in October 2022, previously cited the death of his 10-week old baby in 2002 as motivation for not reversing the ban, stating, “I have no mercy for anyone who would use the death of children for gain, politics or fame.” However, after posting the poll, Jones shared a video calling on his supporters to vote in favor of his ban being overturned, and his old account was reinstated hours after the poll ended.
In response to criticism, Musk said he “vehemently” disagreed with Jones’s statements about Sandy Hook, but emphasized the platform’s commitment to freedom of speech, stating, “are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” He also noted that while the move would be “bad for X financially,” principles matter more than money, and he has taken an increasingly bullish line on free speech online during his time at the top of X.