X lifts the permanent ban on Infowars host Alex Jones, after Elon Musk conducted a 24-hour poll, resulting in 70.1% voting in favor of restoring Jones' account
the InfoWars host, and Sandy Hook families' menace. Critics of Elon Musk's X, Tesla and auto industry bloggers including software developer Travis Brown, Plainsite founder Aaron Greenspan, private jet tracker Elon Jet by Jack Sweeney, and auto blogger Jenn Sensiba got suspended. … Ed Lynch / @goatburgler : I don't care that Alex Jones is on X any more than I care who is on Truth Social because I don't have an account on either platform, and for the exact same reasons. If you STILL have an X account at this point, you've made your intentions clear in terms of supporting fascism. I don't want to hear your sorry excuse. … Walt Mossberg / @mossbergwalt : If you're still on Twitter (X), why? Do you approve of Alex Jones and all the other hate mongers, liars and conspiracy theorists Elon Musk has welcomed back? Is that the kind of neighborhood where you want to hang out? And it doesn't count if you just use that platform way less. … Shannon Watts / @shannonrwatts : On the day of the Sandy Hook shooting - which happened 11 years ago this week - Alex Jones went on the air while parents were learning that their children had died, claiming the mass shooting was a “false flag” intended to take away viewers' Second Amendment rights. Jeremy Newberger / @jnewberger : Elon Musk, Tucker Carlson, and Alex Jones are the triumvirate of shit takes. Shannon Watts / @shannonrwatts : Over the years, Alex Jones repeated this lie again and again to enrich himself - his conspiracy lies helped double his viewership in three years and his merchandise sales rose to $76M in 2019. Jones eventually admitted the mass shooting had, in fact, occurred. Ruth Zakarin / @ruthzknits : I can't help but think that reinstating Alex Jones just days before the anniversary of Sandy Hook is a conscious, and absolutely despicable, choice. There's no way Elon Musk, who is constantly online, is unaware of the approaching anniversary. No way. … Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : While trying to figure out how the platform's confusing creator payment system worked, I got a pile of Elon's $, so in honor of his heinous re-platforming of Alex Jones, am sending the first payout to @sandyhookpromise. Next pile will go to a group fighting antisemitism. Mastodon: Lauren Weinstein / @lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org : Remember, no matter how disgusted you are by Musk's behavior on #Twitter/X, please DO NOT DELETE YOUR ACCOUNT THERE! If you delete it, Musk can reassign it, causing all sorts of confusion. Just keep the account open, log in occasionally just to help mark it active, and don't delete it until such a time as Musk demands that you pay him to hold onto it. Lauren Weinstein / @lauren@mastodon.laurenweinstein.org : Obvious questions: Will Musk permit Alex Jones' posts to be monetized? No doubt major advertisers will be lining up to appear next to his posts. Uh huh. In any case, will Musk assure that any monies paid related to Jones by #Twitter/X go directly to the Sandy Hook families to whom Jones owes a fortune from court rulings? @TodayInTwitter@mastodon.social : He's going to wonder why Disney isn't advertising on X in two months isn't he? — [image] Rod Hilton / @rodhilton@mastodon.social : “You're gonna try and blackmail me with MONEY?” - guy who said he'd never reinstste Alex Jones because his child died in his arms and just did it a year later because he desperately needs MONEY — https://apnews.com/... Leslie Burns / @LeslieBurns@legal.social : I keep reading this morning about “conspiracy theorist Alex Jones” being replatformed on X and every time I read it as “conspiracy terrorist Alex Jones.” — I think that's actually more accurate. John Socks / @John@socks.masto.host : “Elon Musk restores X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones” — Another case in point. Jones is another guy who profited hugely by being awful under his real name. — In his case, it didn't even take social media. Syndicated radio was enough. — Musk eagerly joins the game. Stefan Dembowski / @I_am_stefan@dembowski.social : Surprising no one, #ElonMusk will bring back Alex Jones to the Dead Bird Site. — I guess when he tweeted this, he was lying. — Again. — #twittermigration — [image] @Andy_European@mastodon.online : White supremacist racist says X will reinstate white supremacist racist's account after poll of racist users. — Why is any sane company still advertising on Twitter? https://www.theguardian.com/ ... Ulrike Hahn / @UlrikeHahn@fediscience.org : I'm finding myself more and more bothered by the value incongruence of accounts associated with scientific integrity and science reform movements (personal or organisational) remaining active on the platform holding a vote to bring back Alex Jones. … Arie Goldshlager / @ariegoldshlager@mstdn.social : #ElonMusk #Twitter — Musk says conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will be reinstated on X after poll — “Alex Jones, who has promoted conspiracy theories about the Sandy Hook school shooting, was ordered last year to pay nearly $1.5 billion in damages to relatives of the victims for falsely claiming they were actors who staged the shooting as part of a government plot to seize Americans' guns.” … David Akin / @davidakin@mstdn.ca : Reason 4,125 to stay away from X: https://www.meidastouch.com/ ... tating-alex-jones #media Bluesky: Tommy / @tommyg.bsky.social : Imagine thinking “What we need in this Xitter is more deranged conspiracy theorists” in December 2023 Ross Walker / @ogdenprime.bsky.social : The political right keeps insisting they're the party of standards, principles and ethics; but violating standards and having no principles or ethics is apparently ok for people who are popular. Selection bias is alive and thriving on X. [embedded post] Adnan / @adnan.social : They should have reset his followers. [embedded post] Emil Protalinski / @epro.social : How many will leave X as a result of this latest move? Nowhere near 29.9%. [embedded post] @kenwhite.bsky.social : Alex Jones, restored to X in the name of free speech, recently demanded that a comic be arrested and charged for prank calling him, and routinely calls people traitors and calls for their imprisonment and death for having different political views. X: Elon Musk / @elonmusk : The people have spoken and so it shall be Jake Tapper / @jaketapper : Alex Jones lies on Sandy Hook: “My gut is, with the timing and everything that happened, this is staged. ...I've been saying the last few months, get ready for big mass shootings, and then magically, it happens.” “...this stinks to highest heaven.” “It's as phony as a $3 bill.” Roon / @tszzl : one trap elon is falling into is that the people who are most loudly able to complain about being deplatformed are not actually those most lacking access to free speech Andrew / @amoneyresists : The owner of this platform is hosting a space with a republican presidential candidate, a man who has been indicted for rape and human trafficking, and another who lied about a school shooting to torment their grieving parents. [image] @wholemarsblog : this is the dumbest conversation i've ever heard 😂 several people in this space seem completely nuts I miss when Elon's main focus was talking about tech [video] Keith Rabois / @rabois : If advertisers were actual moral, they would cancel their ads for SNL. @jason : I can understand @alexjones not wanting to answer my specific questions about what he did to the Sandy Hook parents, including “What would you do differently?” “Let's move on! I apologized!” & “This is about freedom of speech” is a fantastic misdirection by Jones. ... and... Kara Swisher / @karaswisher : The corner of Free Speech and Main Street is getting pretty heinous for Linda Yaccarino, who keeps trying to jazz hands this toxic swill as groundbreaking even though shitty men behaving badly have been with us forever. BuccoCapital Guy / @buccocapital : When you arrive at the gates of Hell they strap you to the torture rack and notify you this spaces will be broadcast via megaphone until the end of days [image] @jason : A man is known by the company he keeps Dan Primack / @danprimack : Nothing to see here, just the owner of this site and a presidential candidate chatting it up with a man indicted for rape/human trafficking and another who lied about dead kids to harass their grieving parents. This may really be the bottom. [image] Elizabeth Williamson / @nytliz : Next week, December 14 marks 11 years since 20 first graders and six educators died at Sandy Hook. This won't make it any easier for their families, struggling to get through the day. (Reposting this, with a fix to typo in the year.) https://www.npr.org/... Eliot Higgins / @eliothiggins : Alex Jones' Twitter follower count before he was banned was about 896k, and he's already gained about 10k followers since he was unbanned about 40 minutes ago. [image] @catturd2 : You want to hear something wild - Alex Jones was banned on Twitter 2 weeks before I even created my account - and he just got it back today. Eliot Higgins / @eliothiggins : Alex Jones' first act on being restored to Twitter is retweeting Andrew Tate. [image] Eliot Higgins / @eliothiggins : In news that will no doubt thrill Twitter's advertisers, @RealAlexJones has now been restored to Twitter. [image] @johnwilson : Absurd. Easily gamed polls to restore an account that acted only in bad faith and mocked the deaths of children solely for financial gain. Alex Goldman / @agoldmund : Things must be pretty dire on the financial side if Elon is compromising his kid's memory to get Alex jones back on the platform. [image] Vivek Ramaswamy / @vivekgramaswamy : This platform is the last best hope for free speech on the internet. That makes the answer clear: bring him back. Nassim Nicholas Taleb / @nntaleb : I reluctantly voted Yes, on account of the effective functioning of the Community Notes. I despise Alex Jones (& his audience even more), but one can't rationally cherrypick censorship targets. Dura lex sed lex. Damon Imani / @damonimani : BREAKING: Media Matters releases statement on the reinstatement of Alex Jones' account on X [video] @david_leavitt : How it started vs How it's going (Elon Musk on Alex Jones, a year apart) [image] Shannon Watts / @shannonrwatts : Defamation is not free speech, which is why judges in different state have come to the same conclusion: Alex Jones violated his victims' First Amendment rights and he owes them $1.5 billion. [image] Adam Kinzinger / @adamkinzinger : With Alex Jones back, every advertiser still on this platform needs to leave LinkedIn: Daniel Tunkelang : Reminder: if you choose to use X, you implicitly endorse Elon's decisions about how to manage the platform. Forums: r/EnoughMuskSpam : Every new day is a new rock bottom. r/WhitePeopleTwitter : Musk reinstated Alex Jones' Twitter account at the direction of Jack “Pizzagate” Posobiec. Twitter's run by dangerous white supremacists. r/technology : Alex Jones and his conspiracy theories are allowed back on X r/Conservative : HE'S BACK: Elon Musk Unbans Alex Jones - r/RealTesla : Elon Musk restores X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones - WFTV See also Mediagazer