Alex Jones: Conspiracy theorist returns to X with Andrew Tate repost

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has returned to X – previously Twitter – by reposting a message by controversial influencer Andrew Tate.

Tate’s message praised each Jones and X proprietor Elon Musk, claiming: “We’re back”

His account was reinstated after a ballot by Musk, with 70% of roughly two million respondents voting to elevate the ban.

Jones is most infamous for falsely claiming the 2012 Sandy Hook college capturing was staged.

He was ordered to pay $1.5bn (£1.32bn) in damages to relations of the victims, after courts discovered he had brought on them to be subjected to harassment and dying threats together with his false claims.

Jones, who based the conspiracy concept web site Infowars, was faraway from different main platforms, together with YouTube and Facebook.

He was banned from Twitter in 2018 for breaching the positioning’s guidelines on abusive behaviour.

Andrew Tate, who was additionally beforehand banned from the positioning earlier than having his account reinstated final yr, is a self-proclaimed misogynist influencer who’s going through trial in Romania charged with rape, human trafficking and forming an organised crime group to sexually exploit girls – which he denies

He additionally defended Jones in a social media put up on Saturday, calling him a “hero”.

Elon Musk purchased X in October 2022 and initially rejected calls from a few of Jones’s supporters to reinstate his account.

In one put up, he cited the dying of his 10-week outdated child in 2002 as motivation for not reversing the ban, writing: “I have no mercy for anyone who would use the death of children for gain, politics or fame.”

But on Saturday Musk requested customers to vote on whether or not or not Jones needs to be allowed to return – a repeat of the transfer which noticed former US President Donald Trump’s account reinstated a month after Musk took over the agency. Mr Trump has solely posted as soon as since his ban was lifted.

After Musk posted the ballot, Jones shared a video on-line through which he referred to as on his supporters to vote in favour of his ban being overturned.

Jones’s outdated account was reinstated hours after the ballot ended.

Responding to at least one consumer on Saturday, Musk stated he “vehemently” disagreed with Jones’s statements about Sandy Hook, including: “but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?”

He stated the transfer can be “bad for X financially” however “principles matter more than money”.

Musk has taken an more and more bullish line on free speech on-line throughout his time on the prime of X.

Last month he accused main advertisers of making an attempt to “blackmail” him after they boycotted X over issues about antisemitic content material shared on the positioning – together with a put up by Musk himself, which he later apologised for.