X (Twitter) says it owns everyone’s accounts on its platform in a new court filing.
As spotted by 404 Media, Elon Musk’s social media platform is making the case as part of its efforts to block the sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ X account to the satire website The Onion. The site is in the process of acquiring Jones’ InfoWars, which would include his X accounts, after he was ordered to pay $1.5 billion USD (about $2.1 billion CAD) in damages to the families of the Sandy Hook shooting victims. As part of that judgment, Jones is liquidating his assets, including InfoWars.
However, X is trying to block The Onion‘s purchase under the grounds that it owns every user’s account, including Jones’.
“Put simply, accounts are inherently part of X Corp.’s Services and their ‘use.’ A user must use X Corp.’s Services to create an account in the first instance, and to continue using the account going forward,” the company wrote in a Monday court filing.
“While X Corp. takes no position as to the sale of any Content posted on the X Accounts, X Corp. is the sole owner of the Services being sold as part of the sale of the X Accounts. While X Corp. has granted account holders, such as Jones and FSS, a license to use the Services, such license is non-assignable, both under the terms of the TOS and applicable non-bankruptcy law (i.e., as a personal services contract), and the Trustee cannot sell, assign, or otherwise transfer such license absent X Corp.’s consent.”
On X, Jones has multiple accounts, including a personal one with 3.4 million followers and the ‘Alex Jones Network’ with around 275,000 followers. Jones was banned by Twitter in 2018, and Musk originally expressed his intent to maintain that, even as he brought back other banned people, including former U.S. President Donald Trump, onto the platform. “I have no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame,” said Musk of Jones, claiming that his firstborn child died in his arms. (His ex-wife denied this happened.)
But ultimately, Musk did indeed allow Jones back onto the platform in December 2023 after polling users, with about 70 percent of people voting in favour of restoring his account. “The people have spoken, and so it shall be,” Musk responded.
As Fortune notes, whatever comes out of X’s attempts to block the sale of Jones’ accounts will have major implications over Musk’s control over his social media platform. Legal experts told the publication that X’s argument about owning users’ accounts is a novel one, so it’s unclear how it will hold up in court. Ultimately, it’s up to U.S. bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez to determine whether Jones’ X accounts will be included in asset liquidation.
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