After a five-year ban on X, formerly Twitter, Elon Musk reinstated Alex Jones’ account, backtracking his vow a year ago to keep Jones off the social network. He also welcomed the controversial podcast host to his platform by joining in on his live interview.
Jones and his news site Infowars got suspended in 2018 for supposedly violating the company’s “abusive behavior policy.”
Twitter’s safety team at that time justified Jones’ permanent suspension. They said, “Today, we permanently suspended @realalexjones and @infowars from Twitter and Periscope. We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts’ previous violations.”
On Saturday morning, Musk posted a random survey asking users if he should allow Jones back on the platform. As a result, about 2 million (70%) respondents said “yes”.
Musk responded to the poll and said, “The people have spoken and so it shall be.”
The right-wing defender was active again by Sunday morning.
The Tesla CEO said this move would be “bad for X financially” but he justified that “principles matter more than money.”
Musk, a free speech absolutist, said the decision was to protect these rights. In response to a user who posted that “permanent account bans are antithetical to free speech,” the CEO replied, “I find it hard to disagree with this point.”
The billionaire also tweeted it’s likely that Community Notes — X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking service — “will respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction.”
Jones was accused of spreading misinformation. He once suggested that the Sandy Hook massacre that left 20 children and six adults dead was a hoax and staged to tighten gun laws.
In October, a judge ruled to pay the families of the victims nearly $1.5 billion.
Alex, however, appealed the judgment and pointed out that his speech was protected by the First Amendment and that he deserved a fair trial.
His podcast channels are removed on Apple’s AAPL.O, Alphabet’s GOOGL.O, YouTube, and Facebook for allegedly community guidelines violations.
Jones returned to X by sharing a message by Andrew Tate, a controversial influencer who was also previously banned from the platform.
Tate’s message praised both Jones and X owner Elon Musk, claiming: “We’re back”
The former MMA fighter also backed Jones in a social media post on Saturday, calling him a “hero”.
Since Musk took over Twitter last year, the CEO has granted “amnesty” for various accounts, including that of former President Donald Trump, Kanye West, and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.
I think it is great Jones is back Hallelujah truth shall reign
bring back American Values—-GOD BLESS AMERICA—I too am very outspoken so much so I had to go to the hospital via. the police to see if I was senile or brain damaged—long story—T am 85 and don’t like to be called a lyer—can’t spell either—Clint Pitzer—-only one crazy there was the mental health geek