The Onion, a sarcastic release, acquired Infowars, the site founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in a debt bidding on Thursday. People of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting patients backed The Onion’s proposal.
In 2022, the families won a$ 1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, for spreading false claims about the shooting. Infowars and other company assets were auctioned to pay back creditors, including the Sandy Hook families, as a result of Jones ‘ bankruptcy filing.
Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion’s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, confirmed the successful bid. The purchase price was not disclosed.
” We thought this would be a brilliant joke”, Collins said, as quoted by The New York Times. ” This is going to be our response to this no-guardrails universe where there are no guardians, and all kind of stupid”.
In order to satirize misinformation and virtual celebrities like Jones, The Onion intends to restart Infowars in January 2024 as a movie of itself. Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit institution dedicated to reducing gun violence, may have sponsored information on the revamped website.
According to Chris Mattei, a solicitor for the Sandy Hook families, obtaining Infowars would mean that Alex Jones and his crooked business would be held accountable.
