Ed Kelce took to Facebook yesterday to share a Newsmax article alleging Houthi arms dealers are selling weapons on X ... and, in it, he mentions he's banned for life from Elon Musk's platform.

EK says he got a lifetime ban for a "generic 'Terms Of Service' violation." He later clarified he wasn't banned because of this specific post, but instead posted it just to point out the platform's hypocrisy.

And, Ed says he doesn't deserve to be banned from X at all ... 'cause he's saying X banned him for a violation that occurred when he wasn't regularly using his account -- and, thinks it might've been a post resulting from a hack the company saw.

It's all a bit confusing, but broken down ... Ed said he's been banned for life -- and, he thinks that's total BS.

Worth noting ... Musk has been pro-free speech on his platform, at least publicly ... though he's gotten into some notable scuffles over content with people like Don Lemon this year. Remember, Lemon claimed his X deal was terminated over some interview questions he asked the tech mogul.

Still, a lifetime ban seems a bit out of character for the site ... we've reached out to X to try and get more clarity on the matter.