Twitter restores the accounts of prominent election deniers two years after the January 6 attack

() — Elon Musk’s Twitter restored the accounts of two prominent 2020 election deniers who had been banned from the platform following the January 6, 2021 attack on the US Capitol.

The account of the organizer of “Stop the Steal” (stop the robbery), Ali Alexander, was restored on Monday. Alexander played a leading role in the movement that discredited the 2020 election result in the weeks leading up to January 6.

Asked by the commission investigating the January 6 attacks which platform he used to promote the events in the lead up to that day, Alexander replied: “Mostly Twitter,” according to his statement made public last month. He has not been charged with any crime.

In the months since Musk took ownership of Twitter, the self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist” has restored the accounts of high-profile figures who were banned from the platform following the January 6 attack, including that of the former president. Donald Trump, and those of former national security adviser Michael Flynn and others.

As riots unfolded in Brazil last Sunday, Alexander appeared to encourage the attack, posting on his Truth Social account an emoji of the Brazilian flag and the message: “I do NOT condemn impromptu visits to the Capitol by people.”

During the night of this Monday, Twitter also restored the account of Ron Watkins, a prominent spokesman for conspiracy theorists who was retweeted by then-President Trump several times in the days before the assault on the Capitol.

Watkins played a central role in spreading conspiracy theories about voting machines and the 2020 election.

Watkins’ father, Jim, is the owner of the hate-filled online message board ‘8kun’ which hosts the QAnon conspiracy theory. A 2021 HBO documentary identified him as the possible anonymous figure behind that theory, a claim Ron denied.

Jim Watkins was interviewed by the January 6 commission last year, where he denied under oath that he or his son Ron impersonated “Q.”