In a surprising twist, The Onion has won the bankruptcy auction for the far-right conspiracy platform Infowars, previously owned by the notorious Alex Jones.
Backed by the families of Sandy Hook victims, this acquisition marks a milestone in the battle against harmful misinformation. Jones, infamous for calling the Sandy Hook school shooting a hoax, now finds his platform under the control of the satirical news site known for skewering extreme viewpoints and bizarre internet personalities.
The New InfoWars According to The Onion
The Onion’s CEO, Ben Collins, shared the tongue-in-cheek vision for Infowars 2.0: a website full of “very funny and very stupid” content mocking conspiracy culture, with Everytown for Gun Safety slated as its exclusive advertiser.
For Collins, whose experience includes covering disinformation, this acquisition is both a business venture and a statement against extremism.
Through it all, InfoWars has shown an unswerving commitment to manufacturing anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society—values that resonate deeply with all of us at Global Tetrahedron.
No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds. And yet, in a stroke of good fortune, a formidable special interest group has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten name) and forced him to sell it at a steep bargain: less than one trillion dollars.
The sale also provides a bittersweet victory for the Sandy Hook families, who sued Jones for defamation after he falsely claimed the tragedy was a government-staged hoax. With nearly $1.5 billion in judgments against him, Jones had been forced into bankruptcy and lost control of his assets, including the Infowars website and studio.
By turning one of the loudest voices in conspiracy culture into a punchline, The Onion offers a fitting send-off to Jones’ platform. As Robbie Parker, a father who lost his daughter in the Sandy Hook shooting, said, “The dissolution of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited.”
