Alex Jones is returning to Twitter/X after Elon Musk launches poll

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is set to have his Twitter/X account reinstated by Elon Musk.

In a poll asking whether or not to lift Jones' ban on the platform - that was put in place prior to Musk's ownership - roughly 70 per cent of the almost two million respondents voted to restore Jones's account.

Jones is the owner of InfoWars - also banned on the platform - which is a right-wing media company that Jones often uses to promote falsehoods and conspiracy theories. And he's most notorious for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was "staged".

As a result, Jones was ordered to pay $1.5bn in damages to family members of the victims, after courts found his actions had caused the victims' families to be subjected to harassment and death threats.

Twitter/X is not the only platform Jones has been removed from. He has also been banned from YouTube and Facebook.

Jones' Twitter/X ban came about in 2018 after he breached the site's rules on abusive behaviour.

Musk's poll means Jones could see himself reinstated five years after his ban. That's despite initially rejecting calls from Jones's supporters to reinstate his account after buying the platform in October 2022.

After the result was finalised, Musk wrote "The people have spoken and so it shall be", but at the time of writing, Jones' account is still suspended.

Weighing in his own opinion, Musk said he "vehemently disagree[s]" with Jones's position on Sandy Hook yet added "but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?"

"If the people vote him back on, this will be bad for X financially, but principles matter more than money."

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