Elon Musk has said he's considering letting Alex Jones back on X

Unusual Whales

Dec 8, 2023 • 1 min read

Elon Musk has said he's considering letting Alex Jones back on X/

back on X, nearly a year after declaring he wouldn't reverse the ban on the conspiracy theorist notorious for asserting that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.

Musk, in a Thursday post on X, responded to a user mentioning the possibility of Jones returning, saying, "Will consider." He added, "In general, since this platform aspires to be the global town square, permanent bans should be extremely rare." Musk explained that if someone makes a false statement on the platform, it can be corrected using the Community Notes feature, unlike on other platforms. He also indicated his intention to conduct a poll on X about whether Jones should be allowed back.

Jones is scheduled to appear as a guest on Tucker Carlson's show on X. The news of Jones's appearance has raised questions about whether the Infowars host would be permitted back on the platform.

Twitter, under previous leadership, permanently banned Jones and other Infowars accounts in 2018 due to violations of the company’s abusive behavior policies. Musk purchased Twitter — now X — in 2022 and reinstated some high-profile banned accounts, including that of former President Donald Trump.

However, Musk had responded with a "no" last year to a user who wrote, "Bring back Alex Jones!!!" He mentioned in another post, "My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics, or fame."

After the Sandy Hook Elementary shooting, Jones promoted the conspiracy theory that it never happened, causing harassment and threats to victims' families. Jones filed for bankruptcy after a judge ordered him to pay nearly $1.5 billion to the families. Advertisers, including Apple and Disney, recently paused campaigns on X after Musk amplified antisemitic posts. Musk, in a recent interview, accused advertisers of trying to "blackmail" him by suspending campaigns on X.

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