Since Elon Musk took over the X (formerly Twitter), he has made several decisions based on polls. Some of those included reinstating accounts of people who were banned by the previous regime. In the latest development, Musk brought back Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist who was kicked out in 2018 for breaching the site’s rules on abusive behaviour.
People voted to bring him back
Last week, Musk shared a poll on X asking users whether he should reinstate Jones’ account.About 70% of roughly two million respondents voted to lift the ban and he was back on the platform over the weekend.
Musk has, in the past, restored accounts of various figures including former US President Donald Trump, former national security adviser Mike Flynn, and Andrew Tate, among others. Musk has been a strong supporter of free speech and he recently said that he does not align with what Jones said and gave X users the power to decide on his account’s fate.
Musk said that he “vehemently” disagreed with Jones’s statements about Sandy Hook, “but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” He added that the move would be “bad for X financially” but “principles matter more than money”.

He cannot break the law: Musk
After reinstating his account, Musk clarified that Jones cannot break the law when he posts or speaks on the platform. After Musk posted the poll, Jones shared a video online in which he urged his supporters to vote in favour of his ban being overturned.
Notably, Musk reinstated Kanye West’s account but later removed him after he posted a controversial image on the platform.
Why Jones was banned
Jones was banned for breaching the platform’s rules. He infamously claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was staged. He was ordered to pay $1.5 billion in damages to family members of the victims.
Jones, who founded the conspiracy theory website Infowars, was also removed from YouTube and Facebook.