“Elon Musk Supports Reinstating Alex Jones on Social Media Platform X.”
Social media platform X is set to reinstate the account of U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones following a decision influenced by the platform’s user poll, as announced by X owner Elon Musk on Sunday. Musk’s response to a Saturday poll regarding the reinstatement of Jones’ account indicated that “The people have spoken and so it shall be.” The poll garnered close to 2 million votes, with approximately 70% in favor of bringing back Jones.
Since Musk assumed control of the platform, there has been a series of reinstatements of previously suspended accounts, including that of former U.S. President Donald Trump. Notably, the platform previously known as Twitter had permanently banned Jones and his website Infowars in 2018, citing violations of behavior policies.
The ban on Jones came in the wake of actions taken by tech giants like Apple, Alphabet’s YouTube, and Facebook (now META), which removed podcasts and channels linked to Jones due to violations of community standards. Jones, known for propagating conspiracy theories, faced repercussions for promoting false claims about the Sandy Hook school shooting. These claims led to a court order last year, demanding Jones to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages to victims’ relatives. Jones had falsely asserted that the victims were actors involved in a government-led conspiracy to confiscate firearms from Americans.
