Elon Musk says it was a 'tough call' to ban Hamas's X account

Elon Musk said on Tuesday that banning the Hamas terror organization's X account was a "tough call."

Musk then explained the reasoning behind the ban, stating that "while many government leaders, including in the USA, do call for killing people, we have a 'UN exemption rule'; if a government is recognized by the UN, we will not suspend their accounts.

"Hamas is not recognized as a government by the UN, so was suspended."

This was a tough call. While many government leaders, including in the USA, do call for killing people, we have a “UN exemption rule”; if a government is recognized by the UN, we will not suspend their accounts.Hamas is not recognized as a government by the UN, so was…

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 9, 2024

This was in response to controversial X user Jackson Hinkle, who gained a mass following throughout the ongoing Israel-Hamas war and is known for his extreme anti-Israel posts. He had asked the social media platform's CEO "Why was Hamas’ X Account BANNED if the ISRAELI TERRORISTS are allowed to keep theirs?"

After Musk's response, Hinkle responded by saying he understood the rule Musk explained but said he doesn't understand "why it's only being applied to PALESTINIAN accounts," to which he shared screenshots of pro-Israel users that endorsed Israel using extreme force in Gaza.

Musk: "Suspensions should be even-handed"

Musk then responded by saying that "suspensions should be even-handed. We are also very reluctant to have permanent suspensions, so people should expect a series of temporary suspensions that become longer, rather than instant permanent suspensions." Hinkle disagreed and believed that it was a good policy to not permanently suspend accounts, and then asked if that were the case with Hamas's account "@qassam2024."

Hinkle's reasoning to ask such a question is because "The UN does not consider Hamas a terrorist organization & they actually won Gaza’s last Parliamentary elections in 2006."

Musk said that Hamas still is "not recognized as leaders of a country by the UN," and still broke X's policy because they called for the extinction of Israel "unlike Iran, which does the same," but previously said that Iran isn't banned because of its recognition in the UN.

Hinkle said that the rule "isn't being upheld fairly," claiming that "pro-Israeli accounts with similar genocidal rhetoric only receive temporary suspensions — or no suspension at all," and that the unfairness comes from Hamas's account being permanently suspended.