As of Sunday morning, the @RealAlexJones account had over 821,100 followers on X. When banned in September 2018, Jones had around 900,000 followers on Twitter, and Infowars had about 430,000, according to the Associated Press.
In 2018, Twitter permanently banned Jones and his Infowars show, citing a violation of the company's policy for abusive behavior through an unrelated video. This decision came a day after Twitter's then-CEO, Jack Dorsey, testified before Congress about alleged bias against conservatives. Jones had shared a video of himself berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy during the congressional hearings.
Elon Musk reinstated Alex Jones on X, citing a poll on the social media platform previously known as Twitter, where 70.1% of respondents favored the return of the Infowars host.
Underneath the poll posted on Saturday, Musk wrote "Vox Populi, Vox Dei," a Latin saying meaning the voice of the people is the voice of God. Musk affirmed, "The people have spoken, and so it shall be," after over 1.9 million people voted, according to the platform's results.
Subsequently, Jones' posts became visible again, and he retweeted a post about his video game. In 2022, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims for spreading false information about the 2012 massacre.
Before Musk's acquisition in October 2022, Twitter rarely banned individuals not associated with former President Trump, allowing figures like Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and terrorist groups to remain on the platform.
Musk, with the goal of restoring freedom of speech, stated that reinstating Jones was about protecting free speech. He acknowledged a user's post stating that "permanent account bans are antithetical to free speech," expressing agreement.
Musk highlighted that Community Notes, X's crowd-sourced fact-checking service, would swiftly respond to any Alex Jones post that requires correction.
Jones, known for claiming the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was staged, faced lawsuits from victims' families, resulting in judgments totaling nearly $1.5 billion. A judge in October ruled that Jones could not use bankruptcy protection to evade over $1.1 billion of that debt.
Despite Musk's previous stance against reinstating Jones, he changed course, stating the decision was influenced by the principles of free speech.
Musk's move to restore Jones' account coincided with major brands, including Disney and IBM, discontinuing advertising on X due to concerns raised by the liberal advocacy group Media Matters about ads appearing alongside pro-Nazi content and white nationalist posts. Musk himself faced accusations of endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory in response to an X user.
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