‘The Onion’ Acquires Alex Jones’ Conspiracy Theory Media Company ‘Infowars’ At A Bankruptcy Auction

The satirical news outlet The Onion has purchased conspiracy theorist Alex Jones‘ Infowars at a court-ordered bankruptcy auction.

In August 2018, Jones admitted in court that 2012’s Sandy Hook shooting was not a hoax, a claim that he had made repeatedly over the years.

In October 2022, he was ordered to pay nearly $1 billion to the eight families in the defamation lawsuit.

According to a court order in late September, the Infowars media platform and its assets were set to be sold to pay the $1 billion that the conspiracy theorist owes to relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.

During a court hearing on Sept. 24, Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez approved auctions to start in November after he ensured that the trustee who oversees Jones’ bankruptcy case controls all the assets of the Infowars parent company, Free Speech Systems.

Jones’ assets will be sold one by one in auctions this fall to pay creditors, but his house, social media accounts and other exempt property are not going to be auctioned.

The Onion’s bid on Thursday had been supported by the families of eight victims of the school shooting and one first responder. 

It will also include an exclusive advertising deal with the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety. 

Everything from the platform’s studio equipment to its online dietary supplement store, a Terradyne-armored truck, social media accounts and a Winnebago motorhome was up for sale to the highest bidder. The bid amount has not been disclosed.

“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,” The Onion CEO Ben Collins stated. “Or Bitcoin. We will also accept Bitcoin.”

Collins said in an interview that the idea first came up in June when the court announced the possibility of an auction. A few months later, while the bid became more serious, the company reached out to the victims’ families to get their approval.

The outlet’s CEO noted that the new iteration will focus on the media ecosystem, which allows figures like Jones to flourish.

“We’re going to shine a light on the economy around this that has completely engulfed our current media, which is people getting you really upset and then driving you to a page to buy a panacea,” he added.

To make the bid work, these families “agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of The Onion’s bid, enabling its success,” they mentioned in a statement. 

However, Collins refused to detail the bid amount, but he mentioned it was the highest and that the funding came from The Onion itself.

“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,” Chris Mattei, the attorney for the families and partner at Koskoff Koskoff & Bieder, declared.

“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,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting, stated, in part.

The Onion is planning to have Infowars transition to its new content by January 2025, a joint release with Everytown for Gun Safety stated.

A federal judge in Texas demanded a hearing into how the outlet won the bidding after Jones and his lawyers raised questions about the auction’s conduct.

In a video posted to X on Thursday, Jones denied the auction’s legitimacy and urged his fans to follow him on new social media accounts.

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