X owner Elon Musk reinstated InfoWars host Alex Jones on the social media platform Sunday.
Musk cited a poll which results showed in Jones’ favor, per the Associated Press (AP).
“Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform? Vox Populi, Vox Dei,” Musk wrote in the post on Saturday:
Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023
Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
According to Merriam-Webster, the latin quotation means “The voice of the people (is) the voice of God.”
In a subsequent post at 12:20 a.m. on Sunday, Musk said, “The people have spoken and so it shall be”:
The people have spoken and so it shall be
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 10, 2023
Following the reinstatement, what appears to be Jones’ account shared several posts on the timeline. The profile says he joined the platform in January 2010.
The AP report continued:
Musk, who has described himself as a free speech absolutist, said the move was about protecting those rights. In response to a user who posted that “permanent account bans are antithetical to free speech,” Musk wrote, “I find it hard to disagree with this point.”
The billionaire Tesla CEO also tweeted it’s likely that Community Notes — X’s crowd-sourced fact-checking service — “will respond rapidly to any AJ post that needs correction.”
The reinstatement happened after former Fox News host Tucker Carlson recently interviewed Jones on his X show for more than an hour and a half, Breitbart News reported Friday.
‘We’re here with the world’s most dangerous man. The most censored man in the English language. But honestly, when you get him in front of an outhouse in the woods he doesn’t seem too dangerous,” Carlson said while standing next to Jones:
Ep. 46 The Alex Jones Interview
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 7, 2023
TIMESTAMPS:
2:46 Alex Jones predictions
15:07 Deplatforming
21:59 Dividing us on race
25:37 The border
28:09 Austin
32:12 New World Order
42:09 Brian Stelter demon video
50:57 Depopulation
1:07:51 Food
1:13:51 Whiskey
1:16:22 Presidential… pic.twitter.com/IsJAQDUzDc
In November 2022, Musk doubled down on his refusal to let Jones return to the platform, “blaming the broadcaster’s comments about the Sandy Hook shooting for his permanent ban,” according to Breitbart News.
The report also noted that “Musk recently announced the return of a number of permanently suspended Twitter accounts to the platform, including author Jordan Peterson, left-wing comedian Kathy Griffin and former President Donald Trump.”
