By The Verge | Created at 2024-11-14 15:45:08 | Updated at 2024-11-22 20:58:57
1 week ago
The satirical news outlet The Onion has acquired Infowars, the conspiracy theory-riddled site run by Alex Jones, in a bankruptcy auction. In a press release posted to X Thursday, The Onion announced that it plans 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” when it relaunches in January 2025.
The Onion purchased Infowars’ assets with the support of the families in Sandy Hook, Connecticut, who sued Jones for spreading lies about the victims of the 2012 shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School. Jones was ordered to pay more than $1 billion in 2022 and filed for bankruptcy later that year. In September, a judge approved auctions to liquidate Jones’ assets, including Infowars.
“I just got word 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and folks met with the US Trustee over our bankruptcy this morning, and they said they’re shutting us down even without a court order,” Jones said in a video posted to X. “The Connecticut Democrats with The Onion newspaper bought us.”
The Onion, which recently changed ownership, didn’t disclose how much it paid to acquire Infowars. The outlet also struck a multi-year advertising deal with the advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety. The Onion CEO Ben Collins said in a post on Bluesky that his team plans to make Infowars “a very funny, very stupid website” with the help of The Onion and Clickhole “hall of famers.”
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