American parody news website The Onion has successfully purchased conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’s Infowars brand and website in a bankruptcy auction, according to court documents filed on Thursday.
Jones filed for bankruptcy protection in 2022 after courts ordered him to pay $1.5 billion for defaming the families of 20 students and six staff members killed in the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.
Jones, unable to pay those legal judgments, was forced to auction his assets, including Infowars, in bankruptcy.
“The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash,” US broadcaster CNN reports quoting The Onion’s CEO Ben Collins. “Or Bitcoin. We will also accept Bitcoin.”
According to American magazine Rolling Stone, it remains unclear how much The Onion paid to acquire the platform. However, the satirical site stated on Thursday that its “goal with the acquisition is to end Infowars’ relentless barrage of disinformation for the sake of selling supplements and replace it with The Onion’s relentless barrage of humour for good.”
“They’re shutting us down,” Jones said in a video posted on X, the social media site formerly known as Twitter. “I’m going to be here until they come in here and turn the lights off.”
CNN reports that Jones decried the sale in his video, deeming it unconstitutional and encouraging fans to follow him on new social media handles.
The Connecticut families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting backed The Onion’s bid, saying it would put “an end to the misinformation machine” that Jones operated.
The Onion will acquire Infowars’ intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory, certain social media accounts and the Jones’ Infowars’ production equipment, the families said in a statement.
According to CNN, everything from microphones to email lists was up for auction to help pay off the dues Jones owes to the Sandy Hook families, after being found guilty of defamation for calling the massacre a “hoax”.
Jones’ allies had also placed bids, with one source telling CNN that one of those bids was in the “seven figures” range. Jones had said on his show that “good guys” had been trying to bid on Infowars to keep him in place, but that even if they fail, he’ll keep broadcasting on new platforms and new social media accounts.
