Infowars, the far-right conspiracy theory outlet driven into bankruptcy over lies founder Alex Jones spread about the Sandy Hook massacre, has a new owner: satirical news site The Onion.
The Onion, whose parent company is Global Tetrahedron, declined to disclose how much it paid for Infowars’ assets in the Chapter 7 bankruptcy liquidation auction. The Onion was acquired in April by Jeff Lawson, co-founder and former CEO of Twilio, a customer-service software company.
The Connecticut families of victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting that had sued Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems LLC, backed the bid by The Onion to purchase Infowars’ intellectual property, including its website, customer lists and inventory, certain social media accounts and the production equipment used to put Jones on the air. The Connecticut families agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of The Onion’s bid, “enabling its success,” according to lawyers for the families.
Why did The Onion buy Infowars? One reason appears to be a desire to keep Infowars out of the hands of alt-right allies of Jones — while also presenting a chance for The Onion to gain some publicity.
The Onion plans to relaunch Infowars in January 2025 as a parody of itself that mocks “weird internet personalities” like Jones, Ben Collins, CEO of Global Tetrahedron and former NBC News reporter, told the New York Times.
Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit organization dedicated to ending gun violence founded in the aftermath of the Sandy Hook shooting, inked a multiyear ad deal on the satirical iteration of Infowars. During the relaunch period, Everytown will serve as the exclusive advertiser, according to The Onion.
In a post on the Bluesky social media service, Collins wrote that part of the reason The Onion bought Infowars is “because people on Bluesky told us it would be funny to buy InfoWars. And those people were right. This is the funniest thing that has ever happened.”
The Onion also has a history of strongly condemning America’s epidemic of mass shootings. Since 2014, it has published virtually the same article — each with the same headline, “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” — 37 times to date, each one following a major gun massacre in the United States.
“Ultimately, the vast majority of gun owners support common-sense gun laws and inherently reject the radical vision of the country peddled by fear-mongers like Alex Jones and the gun industry,” Collins said in a statement. “The Onion has a long history of helping the American public navigate some of the most difficult moments in American life, from our historic issue after 9/11 to our groundbreaking reportage after every American mass shooting. In that tradition, we hope the Sandy Hook families will be able to marvel at the cosmic joke we will soon make of InfoWars.com.”
Meanwhile, The Onion on Thursday posted an on-brand article penned by “Bryce P. Tetraeder, GlobalCc Tetrahedron CEO” that explained the situation, which offers a taste of the tone for the reskinned version of Infowars.
“Founded in 1999 on the heels of the Satanic ‘panic’ and growing steadily ever since, InfoWars has distinguished itself as an invaluable tool for brainwashing and controlling the masses,” the satirical post says. “With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and longer for everyone, a commendable goal.”
“Through it all, InfoWars has shown an unswerving commitment to manufacturing anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society — values that resonate deeply with all of us at Global Tetrahedron,” wrote the fictional CEO of The Onion. “No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds. And yet, in a stroke of good fortune, a formidable special interest group has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten name) and forced him to sell it at a steep bargain: less than one trillion dollars.”
According to The Onion’s post, “What’s next for InfoWars remains a live issue. The excess funds initially allocated for the purchase will be reinvested into our philanthropic efforts that include business school scholarships for promising cult leaders, a charity that donates elections to at-risk third world dictators, and a new pro bono program pairing orphans with stable factory jobs at no cost to the factories.”
In 2022, the families that brought the case against Jones in Connecticut won a $1.4 billion verdict in their defamation lawsuit against Jones. A Texas bankruptcy court ruled on the liquidation of Jones’ assets in June of this year, handing over control to an independent trustee tasked with selling them off to generate the greatest possible value for the families.
“From Day One, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt business,” said Chris Mattei, attorney for the Connecticut plaintiffs and partner at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder. “Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale. After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ hollow offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air because doing so would have put other families in harm’s way.”
Mattei added: “By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm.”
Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, said in a statement: “We were told this outcome would be nearly impossible, but we are no strangers to impossible fights. The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability — the dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for.”
Families of Sandy Hook victims sued Jones after he called the mass murder a “giant hoax” as “phony as a $3 bill” perpetrated by “crisis actors,” and — incredibly — claimed that “no one died.” He falsely accused the parents of the children killed at the elementary school of colluding with the U.S. government in a supposed plot to restrict gun rights. In December 2012, 20 students and six adults died in the shooting at the school in Newtown, Conn.
The sale of Infowars assets was overseen by the court-appointed bankruptcy trustee and was expected to receive bids from Jones’ associates and other prominent right-wing content creators. Had any of these parties acquired even a portion of Jones’ assets, it is speculated that Jones could have remained on-air, “continuing to broadcast his deeply harmful conspiracy theories and antagonizing the Sandy Hook victims and their families,” according to the attorneys representing the families.
The Chapter 7 bankruptcy auction for the Infowars assets was a “sealed bid offering.” According to a notice filed Nov. 14 with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, the trustee overseeing the Infowars liquidation “intends to close the sale of the IP Assets and related Remaining Assets to Global Tetrahedron” before Nov. 30, 2024. Per the filing, the “backup bidder” for Infowars was designated as First United American Companies, which operates the ShopAlexJones.com website.
In a post Thursday on X, Jones claimed that Infowars was the target of a “deep-state hijacking.” Elon Musk, who owns X (formerly Twitter), reinstated Jones’ account on the platform in December 2023. “I vehemently disagree with what [Jones] said about Sandy Hook, but are we a platform that believes in freedom of speech or are we not?” Musk wrote at the time.
Jones, 50, and Infowars have been banned by platforms including YouTube, Facebook, Spotify and Apple Podcasts for violations of their hate-speech and harassment policies.
From Variety US