“Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander claimed Twitter was “instrumental” to his efforts. Elon Musk just reinstated him.
Since his ban, Alexander has claimed to be organizing with insurrectionists in Brazil, threatened violence, and worked on far-right rapper Ye’s presidential campaign
Written by Alex Kaplan
Published
“Stop the Steal” organizer Ali Alexander was reinstated on Twitter on January 9, a platform he has claimed was “instrumental” in his efforts, just weeks after he claimed he spoke with Twitter owner Elon Musk about reinstating his account.
Alexander, a far-right activist, was a major figure in organizing the “Stop the Steal” events pushing false claims of voter fraud following the 2020 presidential election that eventually led to the January 6 insurrection. Before the insurrection, Alexander’s Twitter activity included calling for another “1776,” a reference to the American Revolution, including to “1776” the Capitol; threatening a hotel that closed down during January 6; and detailing his organizing efforts with members of Congress and extremist groups to overturn the 2020 election.
Alexander would go on to call Twitter “instrumental to Stop the Steal.” During the insurrection, Alexander said he did not disavow it, and after the insurrection was banned from multiple platforms, including Twitter.
Since his ban, Alexander has moved his online activity to less mainstream social media platforms, where he has continued to threaten violence and harassment against others, including arguing that people were being “probably too peaceful”; defended white nationalists and criticized democracy; spewed racist, antisemitic, and sexist rhetoric; and promised to “take” a future election. He has also defended his role with January 6, calling it a “beautiful day,” and repeatedly bragged that the “operation on January 6 worked” and was “effective.” He has also said that “Stop the Steal, me and my friends, are responsible for 90% of everything that happened post-election,” and suggested he was involved with the fake electors scheme. He has also claimed to continue working on so-called election integrity and Stop the Steal efforts, including with members of Congress.
In recent weeks, he has been working on far-right rapper Ye’s presidential campaign, including using his account to evade his then-Twitter ban. He has also claimed to be involved with efforts to overturn the 2022 Brazil presidential election, in which then-President Jair Bolsonaro lost reelection, suggesting that he had a “freedom cell” in the country. Following the January 8 storming of Brazil’s government — a day before his Twitter reinstatement — Alexander expressed support for it and claimed that he would be “activating all” of his “networks” in the country.
Alexander has throughout his years on Twitter been connected with Twitter’s leadership. He reportedly advised former Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey, who claimed that Alexander made “interesting points,” and Alexander has bragged that he “influenced” Dorsey. That has included claiming that Dorsey would “put me on the phone with other Twitter executives” and that he prevented Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes “from being banned initially” on the platform. Alexander has even claimed that he was offered a job at Twitter in 2018.
He also cheered Musk’s purchase of the platform, calling it “the most consequential thing I’ve seen since the election of Trump,” and in December claimed that he had spoken with Musk and would be “back on Twitter soon.”
Following his reinstatement, Alexander announced that his Twitter account would “be dedicated to Jesus Christ, Love, [January 6 families], YE, and beating up Naughty Republicans.” And in response to a follower who asked him to “keep bugging Elon to let the rest of us back on,” Alexander wrote, “You know I will.”
Alexander’s reinstatement comes as Musk has reinstated numerous far-right and misinformation-pushing figures on the platform.