Elon Musk authorizes conspiracy host Alex Jones to return to X (ex-Twitter) after a survey

The host, convicted in court in 2022 for claiming that the Sandy Hook mass killing was staged, was permanently banned from Twitter by the former management in 2018.

One of the leading figures of the American conspiratorial far-right finds a powerful megaphone. The owner of X (ex-Twitter) Elon Musk reopened the account of talk show host Alex Jones, banned in 2018, on Sunday December 10.

The host of the show Infowars is particularly known for having affirmed that the Sandy Hook massacre, which left 26 dead including 20 children in a Connecticut elementary school in 2012, was only a staged event controlled by opponents of guns, and that the parents were “actors”. Claims which earned him a fine of $1.5 billion and damages for defamation by parents and relatives harassed by Alex Jones fans.

His reinstatement comes after a survey published by Elon Musk on his account, the question of which was: “Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform? Vox Populi, Vox Dei (the voice of the people is the voice of God).” Nearly two million users responded to the survey and the “yes” vote won at 70.1%.

New turnaround from Elon Musk

Elon Musk had however affirmed that he would not allow Alex Jones to return to the platform. “I have no pity for anyone who would use the deaths of children for financial, political or celebrity gain.”the billionaire tweeted in November 2022. To another user who asked him to bring back the host, he simply had answered “No”.

Alex Jones’ first action after his return to X was to share a publication by masculinist influencer Andrew Tate, indicted in Romania on suspicion of human trafficking. The host then participated in an audio conference on

During this conference, Elon Musk defended his decision by explaining that he was against banning a person for life unless they do “something illegal”reports Forbes (despite the legal conviction of Alex Jones), in accordance with his very broad conception of freedom of expression. He also said that Community Notes would serve to highlight possible misinformation relayed by Alex Jones, despite the many flaws in this system.

Extravagant theories

Alex Jones is known for his outlandish conspiratorial claims. For example, he stated in 2010 that the American government “encourages homosexuality with chemicals so people don’t have children”or that the American Air Force was responsible for flooding in Texas in 2008 with “weather weapons”among other examples listed by the American media CNBC.

It was also on his Infowars site that rapper Kanye West praised Adolf Hitler in December 2022. He was permanently banned from Twitter in 2018 after publications “violating the platform’s policy on abusive behavior, in addition to previous violations”according to a publication from the official Twitter account which is now unavailable.

Between December 4 and 10, Alex Jones’ account gained nearly 300,000 followers to reach, according to social media analytics platform Social Blade. At the time of writing this article, his account has more than 1.4 million subscribers.

Since Elon Musk’s takeover of Twitter, many organizations have denounced an explosion of hateful content, disinformation and harassment. A large number of major advertisers (Disney, Apple, IBM, etc.) have already stopped financing X by stopping paying to display their advertisements on the platform. Elon Musk replied to them:“go fuck yourself” during a public conference.