Elon Musk has reinstated the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones to Twitter, a year after insisting he would never be allowed back on the site over his claims the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax.

The Tesla billionaire brought back Mr Jones after hosting a poll asking his followers to vote on whether his account should be returned.

Mr Jones was previously banned by Twitter in 2018 over what the site claimed was “abusive behaviour”. Mr Jones claimed the shooting in which 20 children and six teachers were killed in 2012 was faked, and called the victims “crisis actors”.

A year ago, Mr Musk said he would not allow Mr Jones to return, claiming he had “no mercy for anyone who would use the deaths of children for gain, politics or fame”.

However on Sunday, Mr Musk said: “The people have spoken and it shall be.” He later joined Mr Jones for a live-streamed conversation.