Saying he wants his social media platform to be a “global town square,” Elon Musk said Thursday that he will post a poll to determine whether bomb-throwing commentator Alex Jones will be allowed back on X.
“Will consider. In general, since this platform aspires to be the global town square, permanent bans should be extremely rare,” Musk said in a post on the platform formerly known as Twitter, according to the Post Millennial.
“Also, if he does say something false on this platform, then @CommunityNotes will correct him, whereas that would not be the case elsewhere. Let’s hold a poll,” Musk added.
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Musk made the comment in response to a post by a news outfit called The Quartering.
“Think about how much letting Alex Jones BACK on X would make the machine rage @elonmusk. It’s time,” the outlet sent to Musk. ““The advertisers that would have freaked out are gone anyway.”
The Quartering offered its thoughts in a post that promoted Tucker Carlson’s interview with Jones, which was posted on X Thursday night.
Musk’s post seemed to reverse his comments from last year shortly after acquiring Twitter.
Jones’ fans petitioned Musk for his return to X in November 2022.
“No,” Musk flatly declared.
“My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat,” Musk posted at the time. “I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”
That was a reference to Jones’ outrageous statements about the 2012 Sandy Hook massacre, including suggesting that the mass shooting was staged.
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A year ago, Jones filed for bankruptcy after the families of the Sandy Hook victims, which included 20 children, sued him for defamation. The court ordered him to pay the families more than $1 billion.
Another judge ruled two months ago that Jones was still liable for the payment even after declaring bankruptcy.
Reporting on that interview on Thursday, the Post Millennial noted that Carlson opened by joking that Jones was “the world’s most dangerous man.”
“The two discussed a wide variety of topics that included de-platforming, the border, the New World Order, depopulation, intentional racial division, the upcoming presidential election, and Alex Jones’s many predictions, which Carlson said were ‘spot on,’” Post Millennial added.
“In the interview, Jones predicted that the Deep State would kill former President Donald Trump, saying that it is ‘their only next move because this is failing.’ He added, ‘I think they’re going to kill [President Joe] Biden too,’” the website reported.
“Jones also claimed that government sources told him that President Biden wanders around the White House naked at night, and ‘doesn’t know who he is.’”
The Post Millennial noted that Jones, the former host of “Infowars,” was permanently banned from Twitter in 2018.
While Jones’ comments about Sandy Hook and other topics were considered hateful and hurtful, Twitter’s ban actually came about because he violated the company’s “abusive behavior” policy in confronting a reporter.
According to Post Millennial, Jones was banned for insulting a CNN reporter outside a congressional hearing.
Jones discussed that issue with Carlson.
“I bullied Oliver Darcy…. He was literally on Twitter taking my sponsors, calling for me to be silenced, so he’s been attacking me,” Jones recalled.
“All I did was shove a camera in his face while he was waiting to go into the hearing…and say, ‘Man you are un-American…You got some evil eyes’…He’s a journalist in the arena. He goes around harassing people and stalking them…and he can’t take me saying you’re a jerk.”
Post Millennial also noted that Carlson marveled at Jones’ past predictions.
“Carlson asked Jones about his many past predictions that came to fruition. This includes Alex Jones predicting the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the COVID-19 pandemic, the implementation of Orwellian mandates, and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, to name a few,” the outlet reported.
During the interview, Carlson said, “When you dig into Alex Jones’s predictions, they are so spot on that it’s remarkable. How does he do this? We’re guessing there’s a kind of spiritual sensitivity to Alex Jones. Maybe that’s his secret.”
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