Musk says conspiracy theorist Alex Jones will be reinstated on X after poll

SAN FRANCISCO: Social media platform X will reinstate the account of U.S. conspiracy theorist Alex Jones after a poll of the site's users backed his return, X owner Elon Musk said on Sunday.

"The people have spoken and so it shall be," Musk posted in reply to a poll on Saturday on whether to reinstate the Jones account. Close to 2 million votes were cast by the time the poll closed, with about 70% voting in favor of Jones' return.

Reuters could not immediately verify if the account was restored early on Sunday.

Since Musk's takeover of the platform, it has reinstated previously suspended accounts including that of former U.S. President Donald Trump.

The platform formerly known as Twitter permanently banned Jones and his website Infowars in 2018, saying that the accounts had violated its behavior policies.

The ban came weeks after Apple, Alphabet's YouTube, and Facebook took down podcasts and channels from Jones, citing community standards.

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.