American satire site The Onion has acquired Alex Jones’s Infowars brand and website through a bankruptcy auction, as detailed in court records filed on Thursday.
Jones filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after being ordered to pay $1.5 billion in damages for defamation claims by families of 20 children and six staff members killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. With mounting legal debts, Jones was compelled to auction Infowars and other assets as part of his bankruptcy proceedings.
“We’re excited to take over Infowars and maintain its tradition of frightening readers into handing over their cash,” The Onion’s CEO Ben Collins told CNN. “Or Bitcoin. We’ll accept Bitcoin too.”
While the purchase price remains undisclosed, The Onion stated that its main goal in acquiring Infowars is to replace the site’s disinformation-driven revenue model with humor. “Our aim is to end Infowars’ torrent of falsehoods and replace it with The Onion’s endless satire,” the company explained.
In a video posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, Jones condemned the sale, calling it unconstitutional and urging his followers to join him on new social media channels. “They’re shutting us down,” he said, vowing to broadcast on alternative platforms even if Infowars is dismantled.
The families of eight Sandy Hook victims backed The Onion’s purchase, hoping it would silence what they called Jones’s “misinformation machine.” As part of the acquisition, The Onion will take control of Infowars’ intellectual property, customer lists, inventory, social media profiles, and production equipment.
CNN reported that several Jones allies also placed substantial bids for Infowars, with some offers reaching seven figures. Jones claimed “good guys” were attempting to keep Infowars in his control, but he vowed to continue his work regardless of the auction’s outcome.
