The satirical outlet The Onion buys the conspiracy platform InfoWars

The satirical media The Onion has purchased InfoWars, the right-wing online platform run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in a court-ordered auction. The purchase was confirmed on Thursday in a video by Jones himself, as well as by the director of the parent company of The Onion.

The Onion He plans to rebuild the website and have well-known humor writers and Internet content creators work on it. CEO Ben Collins explained it in a post on Bluesky this Thursday: “The Onionwith the help of the Sandy Hook families, purchased InfoWars. We are planning to turn it into a very fun and very stupid website. “We have enlisted the services of some Onion and Clickhole Hall of Famers to achieve this.” “I can’t wait to show you what we have prepared,” added Collins.

For his part, Jones said in a video shared on the social network The Onion “They bought us.” Immediately after the news became public, Jones began broadcasting live on X and criticizing the sale of InfoWars. Jones told viewers that it is “a great honor to be here challenging tyrants.”

The purchase includes the acquisition of the intellectual property of Jones’ company, as well as its website, customer lists, inventory and certain social media accounts, and production equipment, according to CNN. The amount of the offer is not known.

The sale comes after a judge earlier this year ordered Jones to liquidate his personal assets, in order to collect the $1.4 billion he must pay to the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting – who killed 20 first-grade students and six educators – after relatives took him to court for defamation, since he falsely claimed that the shooting was a hoax and that they were actors who were part of a government plot of the US to confiscate weapons from citizens. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems, filed for bankruptcy in 2022.

An attorney representing the families told CNN that the families “agreed to give up a portion of their compensation to increase the overall value of the settlement offer.” The Onionthus allowing its success.” “After surviving an unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ empty offers, which would supposedly give them more money if they allowed him to continue broadcasting, because doing so would have put other families in danger,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the companies. families.

In a social media post earlier this week, Mattei added that “Infowars’ breakup this week is just the beginning of Alex Jones’ lesson in responsibility” and that families “will go after their future income and any new owners.” of Infowars to act as a vehicle for Jones’ continued control of the business.”