American broadcaster Alex Jones was reinstated to X, formerly known as Twitter, this weekend after the platform’s CEO held an online poll to approve his return.
“The people have spoken,” wrote Elon Musk, “and so it shall be.”
Jones’ first post since his 2018 ban was a “repost” of social media influencer Andrew Tate.
“Were so back,” Tate wrote.
The decision marks a reversal from Musk’s declaration in November 2020 that Jones would not be allowed to return to the platform.
Legacy press outlets were incredulous over the “conspiracy theorist’s” online comeback after the commentator was ordered to pay families of children killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting more than $1 billion in damages.
“Elon Musk restores account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones on X,” headlined The Washington Post.
“Elon Must Brings Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Back to X,” read another in The New York Times.
“Elon Musk restores X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones,” declared NBC News.
“‘The people have spoken’: Elon Musk restores the X account of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones after poll,” a headline from CNN read.
If peddling conspiracies were what it took to get banned from social media, the aforementioned outlets would have been nuked from the internet long ago. But this is not the case. Despite routinely spreading lies, The Washington Post, New York Times, NBC, and CNN operate with a massive institutional advantage. Legacy media is propped up and protected by the government, academia, and Silicon Valley
