It's been 5 years since Twitter, at the time a public company with founder Jack Dorsey as CEO, announced that Alex Jones and his news and information site 'InfoWars' was being permanently suspended from the platform. At the time Twitter said that 'We took this action based on new reports of Tweets and videos posted yesterday that violate our abusive behavior policy, in addition to the accounts' past violations', a reference to videos shared by Jones and his affiliated accounts that questioned the story around the shootings at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut.
Jones popped back up in mainstream Twitter discourse the other day when Tucker Calrson had him as a guest on his show, and it seems that Twitter owner Elon Musk took notice because today he's floating the idea of lifting the permanent ban on Alex Jones via a poll he tweeted out.
Reinstate Alex Jones on this platform?
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023
Vox Populi, Vox Dei.
This is the same way that Musk made the decision to lift former President Donald Trump's ban from Twitter last year, when he threw the question to the users rather than ruling by fiat as his predecessors in running Twitter often seemed to:
Reinstate former President Trump
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 19, 2022
So as a whole this isn't without precedent.
Replies to the suggestion have thus far been largely, but not universally, supportive of allowing Jones back onto the platform.
Yes along with Milo and anyone who was banned under Old Twitter. A fresh start under 𝕏 would be a great gesture and healthy for free speech.
— The Rabbit Hole (@TheRabbitHole84) December 9, 2023
I'm voting yes even though I hate that guy.
— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) December 9, 2023
My belief is that, on a number of issues, he is batty as a loon. But even crazy people have Constitutional rights. He should be allowed to speak.
— Jim G (@AxialEquatorial) December 9, 2023
Of course Twitter as a private company doesn't have the same Constitutional responsibilities as a government run organization would, but Musk has nonetheless been very clear since his takeover of the company that he would like the site to be as open to speech as possible... within the context of the law, as he himself makes clear in reply to someone.
Recommended
He cannot break the law
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 9, 2023
Seems pretty cut and dried right there.
You know what to do. https://t.co/L0DSzzrRQa
— Count Dankula (@CountDankulaTV) December 9, 2023
This poll could be bigger than the poll to allow Donald Trump back on the X platform. https://t.co/ecBT5CJqGi pic.twitter.com/uEcshpfxBL
— Wall Street Silver (@WallStreetSilv) December 9, 2023
It would be hilarious https://t.co/6XQwSeTynU
— Jon 🔬 (@JonnyMicro) December 9, 2023
Some people just want to watch the world burn... but in the end isn't that what Twitter is about? Letting people throw their thoughts out into the ether and seeing how they land? Many people may not like Jones, who has said and advocated for some... unusual things over his career, but that doesn't mean that he doesn't have the right to say and advocate for them. But at the same time allowing Twitter users to vote collectively on questions like this has risks of its own. The quote the Musk likes using so much, 'Vox Populi, Vox Dei' is itself a stark reminder of the risks. One of its earliest known formulations is from a letter sent by 8th century religious scholar Alcuin of York to Charlemagne, in which Alcuin scolds the Holy Roman Emperor that:
...those people should not be listened to who keep saying the voice of the people is the voice of God, since the riotousness of the crowd is always very close to madness.
So is Musk's choice to throw the question to the people madness? Perhaps, but in many ways it's a madness that we need and an improvement on the other form of dictatorial and opaque madness that was enforced by Twitter's ancien régime under Dorsey and Co. So go forth and vote your mind! If nothing else Alex Jones showing back up on Twitter is doubtless to give us here at Twitchy a lot more stuff to write about on a day to day basis, so it's a win win all around.
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