Elon Musk rules out Twitter return for conspiracy theorist Alex Jones

Elon Musk has ruled out any chance of alt-right figure and conspiracy theorist Alex Jones returning to Twitter.

The social media platform permanently suspended the accounts of Jones and his Infowars website in September 2018 for violating the platform’s abusive behaviour policy.

He gained notoriety for falsely claiming for years that the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School never happened and was recently ordered to pay nearly $1billion in damages.

When asked whether Jones should be brought back, Musk initially said “no” before he elaborated and said he had lost a child – to sudden infant death syndrome in 2002 – and said Jones used the death of children to push his own agenda.

He added: “My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”

No

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 18, 2022

My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat.

I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2022

The move comes despite Musk re-instating Donald Trump back on Twitter following an online poll and Kanye West after his account was previously locked following a series of antisemitic posts.

Trump’s re-instatement in particular caused a backlash from Jack White who heavily criticised Musk for allowing such a move calling it “absolutely disgusting” and “an asshole move”.

The former US President was removed from the platform following the January 6 US Capitol riots in 2021.

Musk has been widely criticised for his questionable actions at Twitter, which he officially took over in October. Among the dozens of stars to hit out at him are Kathy Burke, Stephen Fry, The Strokes’ Julian Casablancas, comedy band SpitLip and Trent Reznor.

Twitter itself is rumoured to collapse imminently; over the last few weeks, Musk has laid off thousands of employees, and advertisers have begun fleeing the platform in droves. Within days of Musk’s takeover, too, hate speech on Twitter reportedly spiked – use of the N-word, for example, increased by nearly 500 per cent within 12 hours.

Last week, Musk also allegedly told the remaining Twitter staff that they must “work long hours at high intensity” or leave the company, with rumours of the site’s collapse following soon after. 

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