Elon Musk said Thursday that he will reinstate the account of far-right livestreamer Nick Fuentes, known for espousing white supremacist and antisemitic views, on his social platform X.
“Very well, he will be reinstated, provided he does not violate the law, and let him be crushed by the comments and Community Notes,” Musk said in a post, responding to a comment asking him to allow Fuentes back on the platform.
“It is better to have anti whatever out in the open to be rebutted than grow simmering in the darkness,” the billionaire added.
Musk briefly reinstated Fuentes’s account in January 2023, after acquiring the platform then known as Twitter in late 2022. Twitter suspended the 25-year-old’s account less than 24 hours after he was allowed back on the platform.
During his brief return to Twitter last year, Fuentes posted a video advertising the presidential campaign of Ye, the rapper formerly known as Kanye West. Ye and Fuentes attended a dinner with former President Trump at Mar-a-Lago in December 2022, sparking backlash against the now-presumptive Republican presidential nominee.
Musk, who has previously described himself as a “free speech absolutist,” sought to return several controversial figures to the platform following his takeover, including Trump and Ye. However, Ye’s account was suspended once again following several antisemitic posts.
“I cannot claim to be a defender of free speech, but then permanently ban someone who hasn’t violated the law, no matter how much I disagree with what they say,” Musk said in another post Thursday.
“This will probably cause us to lose a lot of advertisers and makes me sad, but a principle is a principle,” he continued.
Since taking over the platform in 2022, Musk has struggled to retain advertisers. Several major advertisers pulled back on ad spending last fall after reports emerged that the platform now known as X was placing ads for mainstream brands next to pro-Nazi and white nationalist content.