We all know that Elon Musk is not above welcoming controversial X accounts back into the fold. That was proven when he lifted the ban on other accounts like Andrew Tate's and former US President Donald Trump's. The recent reinstatement would be that of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' account.
Alex Jones Returns to X
Freedom of speech has its ups and downs, and the negative aspect can be apparent with people who spit hateful nonsense on social media. right-wing extremist Alex Jones has been banned from the platform for his controversial views, but Musk thought it was time he went back.
This just Saturday, the X owner posted a poll using his account asking users to vote whether Jones would return to the social media site. The poll has since concluded with 70% voting that he should return, which accounts for around two million votes.
Of course, Elon Musk granted the majority's wishes, stating that "the people have spoken and so it shall be," as mentioned in CNN. By Sunday morning, Jones' account was active. His first activity was reposting Andrew Tate's talking about Jones' return to X.
This could be more detrimental to X, especially with its current state. Musk himself has already harmed his platform after agreeing with an antisemitic conspiracy theory, which resulted in several major advertisers leaving the microblogging site.
One of the most infamous conspiracy theories that Jones tried to push was that the Sandy Hook massacre, an incident that resulted in the death of 20 children and six adults, was a hoax. The conspiracy theorist was asked to pay $1 million in damages to the families of the deceased.
However, this wasn't the incident that got him banned on what was then Twitter. His supposed permanent ban was after he aggressively addressed CNN reporter Oliver Darcy on Capitol Hill, even live-streaming the encounter as it happened.
Darcy was among the many people who tried to discredit Jones's claims, pointing out that the conspiracy theorist was exhibiting hateful behavior. In response, Jones degraded Darcy and even went as far as comparing him to vermin.
Jones Was Also Banned in Other Platforms
Considering his loathsome behavior towards issues and criticism, other social media sites also decided that he shouldn't have a platform to spread his ideas. YouTube, Facebook, Spotify, and Apple also banned Jones for abusive behavior back in 2018.
The last to do so was YouTube, wherein the Alex Jones Channel was deleted with around 2.4 million subscribers. Other than violating community guidelines, many have also pressured social networking sites to finally take action.
According to The Verge, Jones repeatedly posted videos containing hate speech and child endangerment. He received his first strike from the streaming platform after uploading videos containing hate speech against Muslims and transgenders.
YouTube said in a statement that when users violate these policies repeatedly, such as their policies against hate speech and harassment on the terms prohibiting circumvention of our enforcement measures, the accounts must be terminated.
