Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has reappeared on X, formerly known as Twitter, after sharing a post from the controversial influencer Andrew Tate. Tate's message lauded both Jones and X owner Elon Musk, declaring, "We're back."

Musk conducted a poll, with approximately two million respondents, resulting in 70% supporting the lifting of Jones's ban.

Jones gained notoriety for baselessly asserting that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a staged event.

He was subsequently ordered to pay $1.5 billion (£1.32 billion) in damages to victims' families, as courts found that his false claims led to harassment and death threats against them.

Jones, the founder of the conspiracy theory website Infowars, faced removal from various major platforms, including YouTube and Facebook, and was banned from Twitter in 2018 for violating the site's rules on abusive behavior.

Andrew Tate, previously banned from the platform and reinstated last year, is a self-proclaimed misogynist influencer currently facing trial in Romania on charges of rape, human trafficking, and organizing a crime group for sexual exploitation, which he denies. He defended Jones in a recent social media post, hailing him as a "hero."

Elon Musk, who acquired X in October 2022, initially resisted calls from some of Jones's supporters to restore his account.

In one post, he cited the death of his 10-week old baby 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 asked users to vote on whether or not Jones should be allowed to return - a repeat of the move which saw former US President Donald Trump's account reinstated a month after Musk took over the firm. Mr Trump has only posted once since his ban was lifted.

After Musk posted the poll, Jones shared a video online in which he called on his supporters to vote in favour of his ban being overturned.

Jones's old account was reinstated hours after the poll ended.

Responding to one user on Saturday, Musk said he "vehemently" disagreed with Jones's statements about Sandy Hook, adding: "but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?"

He said the move would be "bad for X financially" but "principles matter more than money".

Musk has taken an increasingly bullish line on free speech online during his time at the top of X.

Last month he accused major advertisers of trying to "blackmail" him when they boycotted X over concerns about antisemitic content shared on the site - including a post by Musk himself, which he later apologised for.

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