{"id":60776,"date":"2023-12-11T05:14:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-11T05:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/11\/elon-musk-brings-alex-jones-and-infowars-back-on-x-after-user-poll-techcrunch\/"},"modified":"2023-12-11T05:14:58","modified_gmt":"2023-12-11T05:14:58","slug":"elon-musk-brings-alex-jones-and-infowars-back-on-x-after-user-poll-techcrunch","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/entertainment.runfyers.com\/index.php\/2023\/12\/11\/elon-musk-brings-alex-jones-and-infowars-back-on-x-after-user-poll-techcrunch\/","title":{"rendered":"Elon Musk brings Alex Jones and Infowars back on X after user poll | TechCrunch"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n
\n\t\t\t\n\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n

Elon Musk has restored the X accounts of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his media site Infowars. The X accounts of Jones and Infowars were \u201cpermanently banned\u201d from Twitter by the previous management<\/a>\u00a0in 2018 for posting abusive content and violating the platform\u2019s rules.<\/p>\n

Musk ran a user poll on X on December 9 asking whether it was appropriate to bring Alex Jones back to the platform. Nearly 2 million people voted, with about 70% saying Jones\u2019 account should be restored.\u00a0Hours after the poll ended, the company reactivated Jones\u2019 account. The Infowars account had also been restored at the time of publication.<\/p>\n

\n
\n

Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?<\/p>\n

Vox Populi, Vox Dei.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

After Musk posted the poll, he agreed with a user calling permanent account bans \u201cantithetical to free speech.\u201d Musk said, \u201cI find it hard to disagree with this point.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I find it hard to disagree with this point<\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

When a user pointed out concerns about misinformation on the platform as a result of restoring Jones\u2019 account, Musk pointed to Community Notes and said those part of that program will \u201crespond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

It is a safe bet that Community Notes will respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction<\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

Jones has been infamous for peddling conspiracies about the Sandy Hook school shooting, which took place in 2012 and claimed 28 lives. The conspiracy theorist was sued, and had to take a stand in court <\/a>for purporting that the shooting was staged. A court in Connecticut ordered Jones to pay $1.5 billion in damages last year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Musk\u2019s move comes amid X struggling to maintain some of the largest advertisers on the platform.\u00a0Notable companies including Apple, Disney, and IBM stopped ad spending on the social network after Musk called an antisemitic theory the \u201cactual truth.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

He later offered a clarification and apologized for his comment and called it \u201cfoolish.\u201d But he wasn\u2019t pleased with those who had stopped adverting on X. At the DealBook conference, Tesla CEO told advertisers to \u201cgo fuck yourself\u201d during a conversation with journalist Andrew Ross Sorkin.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf somebody\u2019s going to try to blackmail me with advertising, blackmail me with money? Go fuck yourself,\u201d Musk said. \u201cGo. Fuck. Yourself. Is that clear?\u201d<\/p>\n

He also called out Disney\u2019s Bog Iger, who also spoke at the conference. In the same interview, Musk said the advertising boycott was going to \u201ckill the company\u201d and those boycotting would be responsible for the firm\u2019s eventual death.<\/p>\n

Restoring accounts of Jones and Infowars may raise more eyebrows and irk advertisers and others monitoring hate speech. Responding to a user, the X owner admitted that the restoration could be bad for the platform financially but \u201cprinciples matter more than money.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n
\n

I vehemently disagree with what he said about Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?<\/p>\n

That is what it comes down to in the end. If the people vote him back on, this will be bad for \ud835\udd4f financially, but principles matter more than money.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

After Musk took over X, he has restored many controversial figures including singer Kanye West<\/a>, former U.S. President Donald Trump, far-right influencer Andrew Tate, and right-wing academic Jordan Peterson.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n