Twitter reinstates account of rumored QAnon leader Ron Watkins

Twitter reinstated the accounts of two prominent election deniers on Monday, as new owner Elon Musk continues to restore access to the site to high-profile users who had been suspended following the Jan. 6 attack.

Ron Watkins — a QAnon personality, failed congressional candidate, and the former administrator of the extremist online message board 8kun — was banned from the social media platform on Jan. 8 2021 for helping to promote the storming of the Capitol.

“We will permanently suspend accounts that are solely dedicated to sharing QAnon content,” the company said in a statement at the time, adding that it needed to take “strong enforcement action on behavior that has the potential to lead to offline harm.”

Later that year, an HBO documentary series, “Into the Storm,” suggested the leader of the extremist movement, whose identity has been the subject of much speculation, was in fact Watkins — though he has always denied it.

On Monday, his Twitter account was reinstated, in line with the now-Musk-owned platform’s recent policy reset since Musk took over. The account of fellow alt-right personality Ali Alexander, the organizer of the “Stop the Steal” movement, was recently reactivated.

Alexander, who tweeted several messages about the riot on Jan. 6, was also banned from the platform for his role in inspiring the insurrection. His name appeared more than 100 times in the House committee’s final report, though he was never criminally charged.

“Thank you [Elon Musk].” he tweeted Monday afternoon. “Now, bring everyone else.”

Musk finalized the $44 billion takeover of the social media platform in late October. For the past three months, the company’s turbulent new direction has led to layoffs, resignations and a dramatic drop in advertisers.

The transition also brought the reinstatement of previously banned accounts of several 2020 election deniers — including former Pres. Donald Trump and former national security advisor Michael Flynn — as well as an explosion in hate speech, according to a report by Media Matters for America, a progressive media watchdog nonprofit.

Musk, a self-proclaimed “free speech absolutist,” has also temporarily suspended the accounts of several journalists after accusing them of sharing private information about his location — an accusation they vehemently denied.