Alex Jones Is Fighting The Onion’s InfoWars Purchase

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones has filed a motion with a bankruptcy court. He hopes to halt the sale of his Infowars platform to The Onion.

The sale, which concluded with a $1.75 million bid from The Onion, followed a defamation lawsuit brought by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting. Jones had previously spread false claims about the shooting, calling it a hoax. He alleges that the bid from The Onion, which was lower than another offer, is the result of “collusive bidding” between The Onion and the Sandy Hook families.

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Jones’s filing claims The Onion plans to use the Infowars platform to disseminate messages supporting gun control, potentially misleading his audience. This action follows a similar request for an injunction by First United American Companies, a business affiliated with Jones through the sale of dietary supplements. The trustee overseeing the bankruptcy proceedings has previously affirmed the legitimacy of the auction result and requested court approval of the sale. The Sandy Hook families and the trustee have yet to publicly respond to Jones’s latest filing.

The Onion‘s purchase of Infowars marks a massive event following years of legal battles and bankruptcy proceedings. Jones built Infowars into a platform known for spreading far-right conspiracy theories and generating revenue through advertising for dietary supplements and alternative medicine.

His false claims about the Sandy Hook shooting resulted in a multi-billion dollar defamation judgment against him. The sale of Infowars was part of the court-ordered liquidation of Jones’s assets to satisfy the judgment.

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The Onion‘s CEO, Ben Collins, has stated that the acquisition was partly motivated by the humorous irony of the situation. The Onion is a fake news network, while Info Wars deals mostly in conspiracies. Collins indicated that The Onion plans to update the website and use its established comedic style to address the issue of misinformation within the alt-media landscape

Everytown for Gun Safety, a gun control advocacy group, will have an exclusive advertising deal on the redesigned Infowars platform. Collins also mentioned that the purchase includes all of Infowars’ broadcasting equipment and inventory of dietary supplements, the latter of which the company is still assessing.

The acquisition received the backing of the Sandy Hook families, who viewed it as a means to end Jones’s misinformation campaign. The families’ agreement to forgo a portion of their financial recovery contributed to making The Onion‘s bid successful.

The major question is whether a judge would stop the sale. While this judge would have the power to do so, there must be a good reason. The sale is backed by the people Jones owes money to, which isn’t a good reason, but the sale coming at the cost of those who listen is something to think about. However, that doesn’t mean it’s a good enough reason to stop the sale. We’ll have to wait and see where this goes from here.