American satire publication The Onion buys conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ Infowars at auction

The Onion wins bid for Alex Jones' Infowars, plans to relaunch as parody site, sparking controversy and legal challenges.

U.S. satirical news publication The Onion was named the winning bidder for Alex Jones' Infowars at a bankruptcy auction Thursday (November 14, 2024), backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Mr. Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the 2012 massacre in the U.S. school a hoax.

The purchase would turn over Mr. Jones’ company, which has peddled conspiracies and misinformation for decades, to a humour website that plans to relaunch the Infowars platform in January 2025 as a parody. But the judge in Mr. Jones’ bankruptcy case said Thursday that he had concerns about how the auction was conducted and ordered a hearing for next week after complaints by lawyers for Mr. Jones and a company affiliated with Mr. Jones that put in a $3.5 million bid.

Within hours of the announcement about The Onion's winning bid, Infowars’ website was down and Mr. Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location. Up for sale were Infowars’ website, social media accounts, studio in Texas, trademarks, video archive and other assets.

“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 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers.

The satirical outlet was founded in the 1980s and for decades has skewered politics and pop culture, including making Mr. Jones a frequent target of mocking articles. Mass shootings in the U.S., such as the Sandy Hook attack, are often followed by The Onion publishing slightly updated versions of one of its most well-known recurring pieces: "'No Way to Prevent This,' Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens.”

On his live broadcast, Mr. Jones was angry and defiant, calling the sale “a total attack on free speech.” He later announced his show was being shut down. Mr. Jones then resumed his broadcast from a new studio nearby and carried it live on his accounts on X.

At a court hearing Thursday afternoon in Houston, the trustee who oversaw the auction, Christopher Murray, acknowledged that The Onion did not have the highest bid but said it was a better deal overall because some of the Sandy Hook families agreed to forgo a portion of the sale proceeds to pay Mr. Jones' other creditors. First United American Companies, a business affiliated with one of Mr. Jones’ product-selling websites, submitted the only other bid. The trustee said he could not put a dollar amount on The Onion’s bid.