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Elon Musk has shared his personal reason for refusing to reinstate the Twitter account of Infowars founder Alex Jones, despite welcoming a number of controversial figures back to the social media platform.
Since finalizing his deal to purchase Twitter in late October, billionaire Musk, 51, has won the praise of conservatives and drawn the ire of liberal figures as he floats a number of changes and reiterates his stance on prioritizing what he describes as "free speech."
That has included reinstating the accounts of the likes of Jordan Peterson, the Babylon Bee, and former President Donald Trump, who was banned from Twitter on January 8, 2021, two days after his supporters stormed the Capitol building in Washington. Kanye West, who was locked out over antisemitic comments, has also returned.
However, Musk has drawn the line at Jones making a return to the platform, more than four years after Twitter announced in September 2018 that it had permanently suspended the accounts of the conspiracy theorist and his show, Infowars.
On Sunday, neuroscientist and author Sam Harris directed a message to Musk on the matter, tweeting: "Is it time to let Alex Jones back on Twitter, @elonmusk? If not, why not?"
"Suffer little children, and forbid them not, to come unto me: for of such is the kingdom of heaven," Musk wrote in response.
"Alex f***** up with Sandy Hook. He admitted that and apologized," said German-Finnish political activist Kim Dotcom.
"My firstborn child died in my arms," Musk responded, further explaining the reasoning behind his stance. "I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame."
My firstborn child died in my arms. I felt his last heartbeat.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 21, 2022
I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.
"I think Alex Jones is a piece of s*** but you are creating the @elonmusk policy," argued Peter McCormack. "You have world leaders with accounts who literally drop bombs on children and are refusing an a****** who said stupid s***."
Tesla and SpaceX CEO Musk quietly welcomed twins in November with Shivon Zilis, an executive at his artificial intelligence company Neuralink, in July, according to a report by Insider.
Musk is now known to have nine living children—five with his ex-wife, Justine Wilson, including one set of twins and one set of triplets; two with Zilis, and another two with singer Grimes, real name Claire Boucher.
Early in their marriage, Musk and Wilson welcomed son Nevada Alexander in 2002. He died of sudden infant death syndrome at 10 weeks old.
Last month, Jones was ordered by a Connecticut jury to pay the family members of eight Sandy Hook victims and an FBI agent who responded to the 2012 school shooting $965 million for describing the massacre as a hoax.
Jones was found liable for defamation after spending years describing the shooting, in which 20 first-graders and six school administrators were killed, as a hoax and accusing the victims involved of being actors complicit in staging the deadly tragedy. Prosecutors were asking for $550 million.
This is the second multi-million-dollar verdict against Jones, who was ordered in August to pay $4 million in compensatory damages and $45.2 million in punitive damages to another set of parents whose child was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.
The move to suspend Jones and his related accounts came after the social media platform received reports of tweets and videos that were posted that violated the company's abusive behavior policy.
Given that this wasn't the first time the accounts violated the policy, Twitter decided to permanently suspend them both. The content platform didn't elaborate on the specific material that was deemed abusive.
According to Twitter, abusive behavior is considered "an attempt to harass, intimidate or silence someone else's voice." Targeted harassment or the incitement of targeted harassment is prohibited on the site. Abusive behavior is broken down into four types:
- Wishing or hoping serious harm on a person or group of people
- Unwanted sexual advances
- Using aggressive insults with the purpose of harassing or intimidating others
- Encouraging or calling for others to harass an individual or group of people
Per the policy implemented before Musk's takeover, when Twitter receives a report about abusive behavior, it reviews the content to determine if it is still deemed abusive when viewed in the context of a larger conversation.
At times, Twitter may contact the person being targeted to make sure it has the necessary information before deciding on a punishment. The severity of the violation and any previous reports of violating the abusive behavior policy are also taken into consideration.
Consequences for violating the policy on abusive behavior include asking the Twitter user to delete the content and be confined to only being able to read tweets for a period of time, known as being put on "read-only." Punishments become more severe for repeat offenders and can include longer read-only periods and permanent suspension.
About the writer
Ryan Smith is a Newsweek Senior Pop Culture and Entertainment Reporter based in London, U.K. His focus is reporting on ... Read more