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Elon Musk Says Alex Jones Can Return to X, Reversing His Stance Last Year

The billionaire reinstated the conspiracy theorist after running a poll on the platform formerly known as Twitter
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Elon Musk said conspiracy theorist Alex Jones would be reinstated on X, a sharp reversal from the billionaire’s previous position that comes as he openly battles advertisers over their concerns about toxic content on the platform.

Musk late Saturday night Pacific time announced the reversal of the platform’s five-year-old ban on Jones after running a user poll on X about whether to reinstate him. Musk had said earlier Saturday that the reason for rescinding the ban, if the X voters approved, was to foster free speech. 

About 70% of respondents voted for reinstatement, and about 30% voted against. “The people have spoken and so it shall be,” Musk subsequently posted.

Musk said last year that he wouldn’t bring back Jones, an internet broadcaster who for years claimed that the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School was a hoax. Twenty schoolchildren and six adults were killed by a gunman in the 2012 incident. Family members of the shooting victims later won huge judgments in defamation cases against Jones.

Asked in November 2022 by a user on X, then called Twitter, to let Jones back on the platform, Musk posted: “I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.” He cited his own painful experience with the death of his firstborn child. Urged by another user around that time to reinstate Jones, Musk answered simply: “No.” 

The reversal is sure to fuel further discord between Musk, who bought Twitter in October last year for $44 billion, and the big advertisers who long provided most of its revenue. 

Many big brands have pulled back advertising over concerns about Musk’s leadership of the platform and his endorsement of a number posts that have been antisemitic or otherwise disturbing to many users. Musk in some of those cases has acknowledged that he was mistaken but also has increasingly said that he thinks speech on X should be curtailed as little as possible within the law. Relations with advertisers hit a new low in recent weeks as Musk told brands that pulled their ads to “go f— yourself.”  

Twitter, then under different management, permanently banned Alex Jones in 2018, citing repeated violations of its policies including one barring abusive behavior. Other tech companies, including Facebook and Alphabet’s YouTube, have suspended various accounts associated with Jones in past years. 

Users again raised the subject of Jones on X this past week. Musk, responding to one who said it was time to bring back Jones, said he would consider it. “In general, since this platform aspires to be the global town square, permanent bans should be extremely rare,” Musk posted. He also said X’s crowdsourced fact-checking feature, known as Community Notes, would correct Jones if he said something false on the platform. 

Musk then posted the poll on Saturday asking users if Jones should be reinstated. 

“I vehemently disagree with what he said about Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” Musk posted Saturday. “That is what it comes down to in the end. If the people vote him back on, this will be bad for X financially, but principles matter more than money.”

Since acquiring Twitter, Musk has argued that he is loosening content policies in favor of what he termed free speech. He ordered the mass reversal of bans of many previously suspended users, except for accounts that broke the law or “engaged in egregious spam.” 

Musk also reinstated former President Donald Trump’s account, after polling users about the decision. Trump, who is running for president again and has his own social-media site, Truth Social, has posted only once on X since being reinstated.

Musk also intervened to reinstate musician Kanye West’s account, The Wall Street Journal previously reported. The platform had suspended West last year for violating its rule against hate speech after he posted an image of a swastika merged with a Star of David.

Write to Alexa Corse at alexa.corse@wsj.com

Author: Editors Desk

Source: WSJ:

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