After Elon Musk bought Twitter, he began to unban previously banned names, especially Donald Trump. But apparently, there is one name he will never unban.
Elon Musk was asked if he would allow conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to return to Twitter. Considering all the other people that Musk has welcomed their return to the app lately, this question seemed quite plausible. However, Musk gave a very personal response stating that Alex Jones would never be allowed to return to the social media platform that banned him in 2018.
The question about Jones’ return to service came from writers Sam Harris and Kim Dotcom. “Alex, Sandy Hook screwed up his business. He admitted it and apologized,” Dotcom said in a tweet, ignoring the fact that Jones later said during the defamation trial that he no longer wanted to apologize for calling the mass murder a hoax. He continued: “Also, many of the ‘conspiracy theories’ were true. If serial liars like Biden and Trump are allowed on Twitter, then Alex Jones should be allowed too. Please reconsider for true freedom of expression.”
However, Musk has made it clear that he will not be convinced that he will not allow Jones to have a say on the platform. “My first child died in my arms,” Musk said on his Twitter account. I felt the last heartbeat. “I have no pity for anyone who uses the deaths of children for personal gain, politics or fame,” he said.
Musk’s first child, Nevada Alexander, was born to his first wife, Justine Musk, in 2002. He passed away at 10 weeks of age from Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, commonly known by the acronym SIDS, Nevada. Elon and Justine have five more children together.
Jones was sued for defamation by the families of the victims at Sandy Hook Elementary School, where twenty children and six staff members were killed in 2012.
Jason Calacanis, a venture capitalist brought in by Musk to help run the company, also explained the reasoning for Jones’ ban from his perspective.
“Alex Jones is the devil and [his ban] is the easiest case to decide for any platform – at least that’s my opinion (and that’s all folks!),” Calacanis tweeted.
“$1.4 billion in penalties in proceedings in multiple jurisdictions in the United States where freedom of speech almost always wins over victims’ suffering,” Calacanis continued.
The decision to ban Jones was not well received among right-wing influencers on the platform. Tim Pool, a Trump supporter and YouTube celebrity, seemed angry that Musk didn’t allow Jones to return to Twitter. “Personal,” Pool tweeted in response to Musk’s statement. “What do third-party disclosures have to do with Twitter rules? Either there are objective rules or we live by the whims of billionaires, which is certainly the case,” he continued.
Donald Trump pardoned
Musk, who, along with a number of co-investors, bought Twitter for $44 billion, publicly invited Donald Trump to the platform this weekend after a two-year ban, but the former president has yet to tweet and says he has no plans to do so in the future. It’s not even clear whether Trump can use Twitter, given his deal with his own social media company, Truth Social.
Many other previously suspended accounts returned to the platform over the weekend, including Ye, formerly known as Kanye West.
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