Elon Musk has allowed Alex Jones back onto X after claiming last year that the conspiracy theorist would never return to the site, formerly called Twitter Inc (NYSE:TWTR).
Jones, who founded US fake news website Infowars, had been barred from the site in 2018 after claiming the Sandy Hook massacre was faked.
Musk argued last year that Jones would never be welcome back as a result of his comments over the 2012 school shooting, in which 20 children and six adults died.
Musk said at the time that he had “no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain”.
However, Jones’ return comes after Musk polled his own followers over whether the account should be returned.
Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?
Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023
“The people have spoken and it shall be,” he said on Sunday after voters backed the move. Musk then joined Jones on a live stream later on.
Jones’ return would likely be “bad for X financially,” Musk admitted, given the social media has already faced intense scrutiny and falling advertising revenue over content moderation concerns.