Billionaire Elon Musk has reversed his decision which was issued a year ago and reinstated the account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter.
This decision contradicted Musk’s previous commitment to keeping Jones off the social network, reports Al-Rai daily.
Jones had been suspended from Twitter in 2018 for violating the “abusive behavior policy,” with the suspension considered permanent under the previous management. This action was taken as Jones faced a defamation lawsuit for spreading false claims, particularly the baseless assertion that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting was a hoax.
The reinstatement of Jones by Musk coincided with the anniversary week of the tragic Sandy Hook shooting, which claimed the lives of 20 children and six educators on December 14, 2012, in Newtown, Connecticut.
Despite overwhelming evidence, Jones had persistently propagated the unfounded conspiracy theory on his show, Infowars, alleging that the shooting never occurred and was instead a staged event aimed at promoting stricter gun control laws.
As of Sunday, it appeared that Infowars remained banned from X. It’s worth noting that believers in Jones’ debunked claims went on to harass and threaten grieving family members. In some instances, they physically confronted and accused mourning parents of being crisis actors, claiming that their children never existed.
Disturbing reports by the Associated Press documented cases where targeted individuals had to relocate multiple times due to safety concerns and were unable to visit the graves of their loved ones without fear of harm.
