Elon Musk’s X is encouraging users to follow conspiracy theorist Alex Jones after reinstating his account

CNN

By Clare Duffy, CNN

New York (CNN) — A day after Elon Musk restored the X accounts of notorious right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and his website, Infowars, the platform is actively promoting Jones’ account to other users, giving the fringe figure a major platform to air his deceptive and dangerous views.

Conspiratorial posts from Jones’ account appeared Monday in the “For You” feed of some users who do not follow him on X; his account was promoted in some users’ “Who to Follow” recommendations; and his name was promoted in X’s top trending topics section.

Musk on Sunday also elevated Jones’ newly restored profile, which had 1.6 million followers as of Monday, by engaging with him in a live streamed interview on X. They were joined by Andrew Tate, the self-proclaimed misogynistic internet personality who earlier this year was indicted on human trafficking and rape charges in Romania although he denies the claims, far-right conspiracy theorist Jack Posobiec, “proud Islamophobe” Laura Loomer and Republican presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy.

Musk’s promotion of Jones is just the latest example of how the social media platform formerly known as Twitter and its billionaire owner are increasingly elevating fringe, extreme and potentially harmful viewpoints. Since Musk took over the platform last year, he has also restored the accounts of other controversial figures, including prominent election deniers and far-right and neo-Nazi figures.

Jones is perhaps best known for spreading false conspiracy theories about the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in which 20 children and six adults died nearly 11 years ago. After Jones’ continuous airing of false claims about Sandy Hook, victims’ families said they were threatened and harassed by people who followed Jones. A jury last year decided Jones should pay nearly $1 billion in damages to victims’ families in a defamation case brought against him for his lies about the shooting.

During the Sunday conversation, listened to by millions of users, Musk allowed Jones to lie about his harassment of the families of Sandy Hook victims, with Jones falsely claiming he was just asking questions about the Sandy Hook massacre. The conversation also peddled conspiracy theories on a range of topics, including climate change, “globalists,” and government censorship.

The Jones and Infowars accounts will be subject to X’s policies, and the platform will not monetize the accounts by running ads on them, according to a message from X to its advertising customers that was provided to CNN by Head of Business Operations Joe Benarroch.

But X has been haphazard at best at enforcement of its own rules since Musk bought the company more than a year ago. The Anti-Defamation League and other online watchdog groups reported last year that hate speech has surged on X in the wake of Musk’s takeover. X’s policies prohibit hateful conduct, including direct attacks on others “on the basis of race, ethnicity, national origin, caste, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity, religious affiliation, age, disability, or serious disease.” (Musk and X have pushed back on claims of rising hate speech on the platform and Musk threatened to sue the ADL for defamation, a threat he later backed off on.)

Jones, who was banned from the platform in 2018 for repeatedly violating its abusive behavior policies, is not only known for his false claims about Sandy Hook. He also promoted and pushed people to attend the January 6, 2021, rally in Washington D.C. that turned into an attack on the US Capitol and helped to bring to prominence Oath Keepers founder Stewart Rhodes, who was sentenced to 18 years in prison for seditious conspiracy in connection with the riot. On January 6, Jones led a march down Pennsylvania Avenue and up the steps of the Capitol; Jones has not been charged with any crimes related to the attack, but among those charged were several so-called “Infowarriors,” from staff members to apparent fans of the site.

Jones’ return comes as X was already facing an advertiser exodus over concerns about brand safety and hate speech, prompted by Musk himself endorsing an antisemitic conspiracy theory in November. Musk apologized days later for the post amid a storm of backlash, but he has also promoted the dangerous 2016 “Pizzagate” conspiracy theory and told brands who have left the platform to “go f**k yourself” in an interview last month.

When Musk acquired the platform, then known as Twitter, last fall, he said he would not restore Jones’ account because of his false claims about Sandy Hook. But Musk appears to have been swayed by a recent right-wing pressure campaign to restore Jones. Musk on Saturday posted an unscientific poll to his followers that ended with 70% of the nearly 2 million respondents voting to restore the conspiracy theorist, before restoring Jones’ account on Sunday.

In Sunday’s livestream interview on X, Musk allowed Jones to lie about his harassment of the families of Sandy Hook victims.

Chris Mattei, a lawyer for the Sandy Hook families, said in a post Sunday on X that, “Jones is a con artist. So, he will target the innocent. He’ll tell his audience to fear them. Once his audience is scared, he’ll squeeze them for $. Everybody suffers except Jones. Thx Elon.”

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