The Onion buys Alex Jones's InfoWars in auction with the help of Sandy Hook families: How we got here

The Onion, a satirical news publication, has acquired Infowars, the website founded by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. Jones was ordered to put it up for auction to pay more than $1 billion he owes to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims for falsely claiming that the 2012 massacre that killed 20 children and six adults in Newtown, Conn., was staged.

What does the Onion plan to do with Infowars?

In a press release announcing the purchase, the Onion said its “goal with the acquisition is to end Infowars’ relentless barrage of disinformation for the sake of selling supplements and replace it with The Onion’s relentless barrage of humor for good.”

The terms of the deal were not disclosed. An attorney representing the families said they supported the acquisition.

Everytown for Gun Safety, the nonprofit gun violence prevention advocacy group, has signed a multiyear agreement to advertise on the relaunched website.

How did we get here?

In 2018, the families of 10 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims sued Jones and his media company, Free Speech Systems, which operates the Infowars website, for defamation, saying they had been tormented and threatened by people who were convinced by Jones that the shooting was a hoax.

A subsequent trial in Connecticut in 2022 featured often-tearful testimony from victims’ relatives who said they were repeatedly harassed after Jones claimed that they were “crisis actors.” Jones showed no remorse when he took the witness stand, proclaiming that he was “done saying I’m sorry” for his role in spreading lies about the massacre.

In 2022, juries in Connecticut and Texas found Jones liable for $1.4 billion in damages to the families.

In September, a judge ruled that Infowars and other assets could be put up for auction to help pay them.

What did the families say?

In a statement Thursday, Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families, said that they had rejected “hollow offers” from Jones for more money in exchange for allowing him to stay on the air.

“By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’s ability to do more harm,” Mattei said in the statement.

"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, said in a separate statement provided to the Associated Press.

What did Jones say?

In a live video posted to X on Thursday morning, Jones confirmed the Onion's acquisition of Infowars and said he planned to file legal challenges to stop it.

“Last broadcast now live from Infowars studios,” Jones wrote on X. “They are in the building. Are ordering shutdown without court approval.”

What’s next?

Per the AP, the judge in 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 Jones and a company affiliated with Jones that put in a $3.5 million bid."

Meanwhile, Ben Collins, chief executive of the Onion parent company Global Tetrahedron, told the New York Times that the publication “plans to reintroduce InfoWars in January as a parody of itself.”

In the press release, Collins said that the Onion “has a long history of helping the American public navigate some of the most difficult moments in American life,” including 9/11.

“In that tradition,” he added, “we hope the Sandy Hook families will be able to marvel at the cosmic joke we soon make of InfoWars.”