Elon Musk reinstates Alex Jones amid controversy
Elon Musk has reversed his decision once again. Alex Jones, who must pay billions in compensation to the families of American school massacre victims, is returning to X (formerly Twitter) after a five-year absence. This marks another controversial decision from Musk, as the platform has been enduring a loss of advertisers in recent weeks.
8:31 PM EST, December 10, 2023
Musk chose to reinstate Alex Jones's X (formerly Twitter) account, which was suspended in 2018.
Jones is recognized as a conspiracy theorist in the United States. He has a lengthy record of sharing blatantly false and malicious conspiracy theories on a range of topics - as CNN reminds us.
Alex Jones and a billion-dollar compensation
Jones has been found guilty by courts for denying the Sandy Hook School massacre, and ordered to pay nearly a billion dollars in compensation, as well as an additional 400 million dollars for emotional distress inflicted on the victims' families.
Jones is a known supporter of former United States President Donald Trump, and the policies implemented by Vladimir Putin. He regularly appears on the Russian propaganda network, TsargradTV, acting as a foreign expert. In 2022, he asserted his controversial view, alleging that the massacre of Ukrainian civilians in Bucha by Russian soldiers was nothing more than a hoax - reminds the portal euroactive.com.
Musk's poll on X
CNN reports that Musk, a frequent user of his X platform, published a poll on his account Saturday morning, asking users whether Jones should be reinstated. Approximately 2 million people responded to the poll, and by Saturday evening, when the poll closed, almost 70% of respondents had voted "yes".
Reacting to the poll results, Musk wrote: "The people have spoken and so it will be". Jones' account was reactivated the following Sunday morning.
Musk's decision, who himself is a known promoter of conspiracy theories and has amplified a number of extremist voices since acquiring the platform, will most likely continue to affect X. Companies have started distancing themselves from the platform, which has experienced an upsurge in hate speech and conspiracy theories following Musk's decisions - CNN underlines.
Musk previously conceded that restoring Jones would be "financially detrimental for X", but argued that "principles matter more than money".
The billionaire founder of Tesla stated last year that he would not reverse the ban on Jones due to his false allegations that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in 2012 was a hoax. However, he reversed this stance in recent days, after an interview with Tucker Carlson - notes CNN.
