Elon Musk restored Alex Jones’ account on X (formerly Twitter) — after he polled customers on whether to reinstate the infamous conspiracy theorist.
Musk raised the possibility of bringing Jones’ account back on Saturday when the suitable-wing account @ALX demanded it after Jones was once interviewed via Tucker Carlson. In response, the X owner posted an unscientific poll that concluded with roughly 70 p.c of 2 million respondents assisting Jones’ restoration.
This led to Musk asserting on Sunday “The individuals have spoken and so it will be.”
The people have spoken and so it might be
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
The choice reverses the transfer with the aid of X’s former administration to ban Jones again in 2018 for abusive conduct. It’s also a one hundred eighty of sorts for Musk. Despite his doubtful claims of being a “free speech absolutist,” Musk refused to re-platform Jones final year as a result of his conspiracy theories in regards to the Sandy Hook massacre. Jones has been ordered to pay more than $1 billion in damages for fueling the torment of the Sandy Hook households, and he spouted different conspiracies over the years that got here back up again all over his chat with Carlson.
The restoration of Jones’ account comes as X is dealing with an exodus of manufacturers that determined to go away the platform in latest weeks because of issues about hate speech, misinformation and Musk’s recent amplification of an anti-semitic trope. Musk has answered by lashing out at these brands and claiming they’re seeking to tank X because they don’t like free speech.
The publish He’s Back: Elon Musk Restores Alex Jones’ Twitter Account After Saying He Wouldn’t first appeared on Mediaite.