Reason Elon Musk won’t let Alex Jones back on Twitter

Elon Musk has been reactivating Twitter accounts – from Donald Trump to Kanye West. But there’s a heartbreaking reason he won’t do so for one person.

Elon Musk has been on a Twitter un-banning spree, reactivating accounts from people who had previously deemed to have broken the website’s rules.

But there is one person who Mr Musk has said will not be coming back. And he has a very personal reason for keeping the ban in place.

Late last week, the CEO of the tech firm said the “new Twitter policy is freedom of speech, but not freedom of reach”.

He elaborated on that to mean that while “negative/hate tweets” might be allowed, they would be harder to find and Twitter wouldn’t earn revenue from them.

“You won’t find the tweet unless you specifically seek it out, which is no different from rest of internet.”

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Twitter owner Elon Musk is busy reactivating banned and suspended accounts – aside from one. (Photo by Brendan Smialowski / AFP)

Over the weekend, Mr Musk reinstated the account of former US President Donald Trump which had been suspended in the wake of January 6, 2021 Capitol riots.

Mr Musk had earlier reinstated the accounts of comedian Kathy Griffin, author Jordan Petersen and conservative satirical news website the Babylon Bee.

It’s also emerged that Kanye West’s account was back online after it was suspended when the musician – who now goes by the name Ye – made anti-Semitic remarks.

As was the account of former kickboxer Andrew Tate who had been banned for his misogynistic views.

But there was a notable absence from the list of the reinstated: Alex Jones.

Several Twitters users asked Mr Musk if the US commentator, who founded the InfoWars website which has published conspiracy theories, would be able to rejoin the site.

Jones was ordered to pay a total of US$1.4 billion for defamatory falsehoods over claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting in Connecticut – that led to 27 deaths – was a “hoax”.

The 48-year-old Jones claimed for years on his show that the shooting was “staged” by gun control activists and that the parents were “crisis actors,” but has since acknowledged it was “100 per cent real.”

Far-right radio host Alex Jones will not be allowed back on Twitter. Picture: Olivier Douliery / AFP

Jones has since apologised to the families but in October added he was now “done apologising”.

One of those urging Mr Musk to reinstate Jones’ account was internet entrepreneur Kim Dotcom who said allowing the InfoWars founder to tweet would demonstrate “real free speech”.

Dotcom is wanted by the US Justice Department for crimes including copyright infringement and racketeering.

But Mr Musk wasn’t moved by the plea, citing his own child’s death.

“My firstborn child died in my arms,” he tweeted.

“I felt his last heartbeat. I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame.”

In 2002, Musk and his first wife, Justine Musk, had their first baby Nevada Alexander Musk.

He died of sudden infant death syndrome, aged just 10 weeks old.

The couple went on to have another five children.

The reinstating of the accounts of controversial users has been called out by some, as Mr Musk had said in late October that “no account reinstatements” would be done until a “content moderation council with widely diverse viewpoints” was set up.

However, it’s not clear that such a council has met, or even been set up, prior to the accounts being made accessible.

Kanye West is back on Twitter. Picture: Jean-Baptiste Lacroix / AFP

Kanye West has started posting again.

“Shalom :)” the rapper wrote on Sunday night.

Hours earlier he tweeted, “Testing. Testing. Seeing if my Twitter is unblocked.”

In response, Twitter CEO Elon Musk wrote, “Don’t kill what ye hate. Save what ye love”.

On October 7, Kanye wrote on Instagram, “Ima use you as an example to show the Jewish people that told you to call me that no one can threaten or influence me.”

Several days later, the rapper tweeted, “I’m a bit sleepy tonight but when I wake up I’m going death con [sic] 3 On JEWISH PEOPLE.”

Defcon is a military term used as an alert system by the US armed forces.

Twitter removed Kanye’s tweet and also confirmed his account had been locked “due to a violation of Twitter’s policies”.

Donald Trump has said there is ‘no reason’ to return to Twitter. Picture: Olivier Douliery / AFP

Donald Trump has yet to tweet from his Twitter account and has said he will remain on his own Truth Social platform.

“I don’t see any reason for it,” the former president said via video when asked whether he planned to return to Twitter by a panel at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership meeting, Reuters reported.

He said Truth Social was doing has better user engagement than Twitter and was doing “phenomenally well”, noting Twitter’s problems included bots and fake accounts.