The Huffington Post reports:
Elon Musk has restored the X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, pointing to a poll on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter that came out in favor of the Infowars host who repeatedly called the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax. It poses new uncertainty for advertisers, who have fled X over concerns about hate speech appearing alongside their ads, and is the latest divisive public personality to get back their banned account.
Musk posted a poll on Saturday asking if Jones should be reinstated, with the results showing 70% of those who responded in favor. It is a major turnaround for Musk, who previously said he wouldn’t let Jones back on the platform despite repeated calls to do so. Last year, Musk pointed to 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.”
Read the full article.
The link to Elon Musk’s poll asking people whether to reinstate Alex Jones is being shared on far-right message boards. Musk’s previous polls to make decisions regarding policy for X/Twitter have been targeted by far-right message boards & QAnon figures. https://t.co/csGg83GcQn https://t.co/ZMYRWVcE6p pic.twitter.com/bBxZRLDDEI
— Alex Kaplan (@AlKapDC) December 9, 2023
It is a safe bet that Community Notes will respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
What Alex Jones said about Sandy Hook was not "free speech." It was a crime. And it was found to be a *huge* crime in court. pic.twitter.com/R75MdGGOqX
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) December 9, 2023