Who is Alex Jones whose X account was withheld and now restored by Elon Musk?

After a poll on the social media platform that came out in favor of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, Elon Musk restored his account on X, formerly known as Twitter. The Infowars host was banned by X, after he repeatedly called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax. Many advertisers deserted this social media platform over concerns about hate speech appearing alongside their ads. Earlier on Saturday, Musk posted a poll asking the users if Jones should be reinstated. About 70% of those who responded, voted in favor. Responding to this, Musk tweeted, "The people have spoken and so it shall be."

Alex Jones' posts return

Jones’ posts were visible on the social media platform again and he retweeted a post about his video game. He and his Infowars show had been permanently banned in 2018 for abusive behavior.



Elon Musk said the move was about protecting the right to freedom of speech. In response to a user who posted that "permanent account bans are antithetical to free speech," Musk replied, "I find it hard to disagree with this point." The billionaire X boss also tweeted it’s likely that Community Notes- X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking service - "will respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction."


Earlier, the Tesla CEO said he would not let Jones back on the platform despite repeated calls to do so. Last year, Musk invoked the death of his first-born child and tweeted, "I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame."

Alex Jones called Sandy Hook shooting hoax

Alex Jones said several times on his show that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut, which killed 20 children and six educators never happened and it was staged to tighten gun laws. Angry family members of some of the victims sued Jones in Connecticut and Texas and won nearly $1.5 billion in judgments against him.

Advertisers desert X

A slew of big brands, including Disney and IBM, stopped advertising on X after a report by liberal advocacy group Media Matters said ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white nationalist posts.

The X boss later apologized and visited Israel, where he toured a kibbutz attacked by Hamas militants and held talks with top Israeli leaders.

FAQs:

How Alex Jones' account was restored on X?
X boss Elon Musk posted a poll asking the users if Jones should be reinstated. About 70% of those who responded, voted in favor. Responding to this, Musk tweeted, "The people have spoken and so it shall be."

Why did some advertisers desert X?
A slew of big brands, including Disney and IBM, stopped advertising on X after a report by liberal advocacy group Media Matters said ads were appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white nationalist posts.