The Onion has reached a deal to take over Infowars, the far-right media company run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. If a Texas judge approves the agreement, the move would strip Jones of control over the Infowars platform and allow The Onion to follow through on plans to transform the site into a parody of itself.
Families of victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who successfully sued Jones for defamation, support the sale. They are still trying to collect on nearly $1.3 billion awarded to them after Jones promoted false claims that the victims’ deaths were staged to further gun control. Those lies led to years of harassment and threats against the families.
The families say they want Jones removed from his platform to prevent further harm. The proposed deal would not only separate Jones from the Infowars brand but would repurpose the outlet to satirize the kind of conspiracy rhetoric he spread and to advocate for gun control. “When Infowars finally goes dark, the machinery of lies that Jones built will become a force for social good, thanks to the families’ courage and The Onion’s vision, persistence and stewardship,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the families.
The Onion described the arrangement as “a significant step in an effort to transform one of the internet’s more notorious misinformation platforms into a new comedy network for satire.” The company said it could unveil its new Infowars rollout within weeks of judicial approval. “Eight years, almost to the day, after the Sandy Hook parents first filed suit against Alex Jones, they’ll finally get some justice, and even some money,” said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. “This is a chance to make something genuinely new out of a very broken piece of media history.”
On its site, The Onion posted a satirical statement from the fictional CEO of its parent company, Global Tetrahedron, “Bryce P. Tetraeder,” calling the development a long-held dream.
Jones has vowed to challenge the deal, accusing The Onion of attempting to “steal and misrepresent” his identity and profit from it. “They want the name and the logo to literally try to misrepresent and say they’re me and it’s all hidden behind satire,” he said, warning of lawsuits. He encouraged supporters to back his fight and said he had released limited-edition merch in what he called potentially “the twilight of Infowars.com.” Even if he loses the site, Jones could continue broadcasting under a different name or platform. His attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.
More than a year ago, a federal bankruptcy judge rejected The Onion’s initial attempt to buy Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, finding the process flawed. Because Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, is not in bankruptcy, a Texas state receiver was later directed to handle its assets. That shift opened the way for the current agreement to lease Infowars to The Onion with the prospect of a later sale.
Court papers from the Texas receiver said licensing the Infowars intellectual property was in the receivership estate’s best interest. Under the deal, The Onion would pay $81,000 a month to license the Infowars.com domain and brand. The receiver said that income would cover carrying costs to preserve and protect the estate’s assets while Jones’s appeal and other legal matters play out.
Separately, Jones’s personal bankruptcy case is moving forward in federal court, where a trustee continues to liquidate his personal property — including vehicles, homes, watches and guns — with proceeds intended for the Sandy Hook families.