Elon Musk has reinstated the X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media website Infowars. Jones and Infowars' X account were "permanently banned" by Twitter's previous management in 2018 for posting abusive content and violating the platform's rules.
On December 9, Musk launched a user poll on X asking whether it would be appropriate to bring Alex Jones back to the platform. Nearly 2 million people participated in the vote, and about 70% of them believed that Jones’ account should be restored. Hours after the polls closed, the company reactivated Jones' account. As of press time, the Infowars account has also been restored.
After Musk posted the vote, he agreed with one user, saying that permanently banning accounts was "antithetical to free speech." "It's hard for me to disagree with that," Musk said.
When a user raised concerns about misinformation on the platform after Jones' account was reinstated, Musk pointed to Community Notes and said members of the program would "respond quickly to any AJ posts that require correction."
Jones is notorious for peddling conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting. The conspiracy theorist was sued for claiming the shooting was faked and had to take a stand in court. A Connecticut court last year ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion in damages.
Musk's move comes as X struggles to retain some of its biggest advertisers on the platform. High-profile companies including Apple, Disney and IBM halted ad spending on the social network after Musk called an anti-Semitic theory "truth."
He later clarified and apologized for his comments, calling the statement "stupid." Tesla’s CEO swore at advertisers during a conversation with reporter Andrew Ross Sorkin at the DealBook conference.
"If someone wants to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Fuck you!" Musk said. "Go fuck yourself. Got it?"
He also scolded Disney CEO Iger, who also spoke at the meeting. In the same interview, Musk said boycotting ads would "kill the company" and that boycotters would be responsible for the company's eventual death.
Reinstating Jones and Infowars' accounts could draw more attention and further alert advertisers and others who monitor hate speech. In a reply to a user, X's owner acknowledged that restoring the account could adversely affect the platform's financial health, but that "principles are more important than money."
I strongly disagree with what he said regarding Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in free speech?
This is the end result. It would be bad for X's financial situation if people re-voted for him, but principles are more important than money.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023
After Musk took over Company