The Onion buys Alex Jones's conspiracy site Infowars at bankruptcy auction
Gun safety group signs on as an advertiser for site, which previously pushed mass shooting conspiracies
The satirical news publication The Onion won the bidding for Alex Jones's Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $1 billion US in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax, the families announced Thursday.
"The dissolution of Alex Jones's assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for," Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers.
The sale price was not immediately disclosed.
The Chicago-based Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platform's website, social media accounts, studio in Austin, Texas, trademarks and its video archive.
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.
"Last broadcast now live from Infowars studios. They are in the building. Are ordering shutdown without court approval," Jones said on the social platform X. Jones was broadcasting live from the Infowars studio Thursday morning and appeared distraught, putting his head in his hand at his desk.
Relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting sued Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones's conspiracies and threats by his followers. The lawsuits were filed in Connecticut and Texas.
Lawyers for the families in the Connecticut lawsuit said they worked with The Onion to try to acquire Infowars.
Other bidders unknown
The Onion, a satirical site that manages to persuade people to believe the absurd, bills itself as "the world's leading news publication, offering highly acclaimed, universally revered coverage of breaking national, international and local news events" and says it has 4.3 trillion daily readers.
It was sold itself last year, to Chicago's Global Tetrahedron — named after a fictitious corporation frequently name-checked on the site. Ben Collins, a former NBC News reporter who focused on online disinformation, was named CEO.
Today <a href="https://twitter.com/TheOnion?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@TheOnion</a> won its bid to acquire Infowars, the notorious harbinger of disinformation, misinformation, and hate speech helmed by its founder, professional Internet troll, Alex Jones. Alex Jones has profited off the pain of Sandy Hook families, and his brand of hateful…
—@EverytownThe Onion said its "exclusive launch advertiser" will be the gun violence prevention organization Everytown for Gun Safety.
"Everytown will continue to raise awareness on InfoWars' channels about gun violence prevention and present actual solutions to our nation's gun violence crisis, including bipartisan, common-sense measures and public safety initiatives backed by Everytown," The Onion said in a statement Thursday.
In a post published Thursday entitled, Here's Why I Decided To Buy Infowars by Bryce P. Tetraeder, Global Tetrahedron CEO, the fictitious Tetraeder writes that Infowars "has distinguished itself as an invaluable tool for brainwashing and controlling the masses."
"No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds," Tetraeder writes, celebrating "the continued consolidation of power and capital."
Jones has been saying on his show that if his detractors bought Infowars, he would move his daily broadcasts and product sales to a new studio, websites and social media accounts that he has already set up. While his content was increasingly shunned over the years, Jones did get Donald Trump to sit for an interview with the show during his first presidential run in late 2015.
Sealed bids for the private auction were opened Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones had expressed interest in buying Infowars, but the other bidders have not been disclosed.
With files from CBC News