The satirical news publication The Onion won the bid for Alex Jones’s Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, backed by the families of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, to whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax, the families announced. Thursday.
“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long waited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by he. the lawyers.
The sale price was not immediately disclosed.
Jones confirmed The Onion’s acquisition of Infowars in a social media video Thursday and said he planned to file legal challenges to stop it. An email message seeking comment was sent to Infowars.
“The latest broadcast now live from Infowars studios. They are in the building. They’re ordering closure without court approval,” Jones said on social media platform X.
Jones was broadcasting live from the Infowars studio Thursday morning and appeared agitated, putting his head in his hands on his desk.
It was not immediately clear what The Onion planned to do with the conspiracy theory platform, including its website, social media accounts, a studio in Austin, Texas, trademarks and video archive. Chicago-based Onion did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday.
Sealed bids for the private auction opened on Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones expressed interest in buying Infowars. Other bidders have not been disclosed.
The Onion, a satirical site that manages to convince people to believe the absurd, bills itself as “the world’s leading news publication, providing highly regarded and universally respected coverage of national, international and local news events,” and says . it has 4.3 trillion readers a day.
Jones has said on his talk show that if his opponents were to buy Infowars, he would move his daily broadcasts and product sales to a new studio, website and social media accounts he has already established. He also said that if his supporters win the tender, he can stay on the Infowars platforms.
Relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting are suing Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress after repeatedly saying on his talk show that the shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by actors crisis to push for more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ plots and threats from his followers.
Lawsuits were filed in Connecticut and Texas. Attorneys for the families in the Connecticut lawsuit said they have been working with The Onion to try to buy Infowars.
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