Elon Musk reinstated Infowars host Alex Jones on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, after leaving it to users to decide whether to bring Jones back.
Musk released a poll asking users to vote on Jones’ return to the platform, and 70.1% of respondents supported his return.
“Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk wrote on Saturday when releasing the poll results. The phrase translates to, “The voice of the people is the voice of God.”
Musk said, “The people have spoken, and so it shall be.” Over 1.9 million votes were recorded, according to the platform results. In just a few hours, Jones’ posts reappeared.
🚨BREAKING: Elon Musk has just reinstated Alex Jones account on X (formerly Twitter.)
Do you support this?
Yes or No? pic.twitter.com/VzlFboMqjp
— Ian Jaeger (@IanJaeger29) December 10, 2023
In 2022, Jones was directed to pay nearly $1 billion to the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones was found guilty of spreading falsehoods about the 2012 horrific tragedy.
The @RealAlexJones account had over 821,100 followers on X as of Sunday morning when he was reinstated.
Jones also faced a ban in September 2018 when he had around 900,000 followers on Twitter, and Infowars had approximately 430,000 followers.
In 2018, Twitter issued a permanent ban on Jones and his Infowars show. Twitter cited a video Jones shared that violated the company’s policy on abusive speech and behavior.
Prior to Musk’s purchase of the platform, Twitter rarely banned anyone who wasn’t associated with Donald Trump. The platform continued permitting international figures such as Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and even terrorist groups to have active accounts.
Musk said the decision to reinstate Jones’ account was based on the notion of protecting free speech. When a user expressed that “permanent account bans are antithetical to free speech,” Musk responded, “I find it hard to disagree with this point.”
In earlier broadcasts on his Infowars show, Jones claimed the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, which resulted in the deaths of 20 children and six educators, was fabricated to promote stricter gun laws.
Relatives of numerous victims sued Jones in both Connecticut and Texas. The victims secured judgments totaling almost $1.5 billion.
Musk previously stated that he wouldn’t allow Jones back on the platform.
When referring to the loss of his first-born child in a tweet, Musk said, “I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”
