Judge Delays Hearing on The Onion’s Bid for Infowars

InfoWars founder Alex Jones takes photos at a hearing to examine foreign influence operations' use of social media platforms before the Intelligence Committee at the Capitol in Washington, on Sept. 5, 2018. Samira Bouaou/The Epoch Times

A federal bankruptcy judge on Nov. 25 delayed the hearing to next month on whether the sale of Alex Jones’s Infowars company to the satirical news site The Onion underwent a fair auction process.

Judge Christopher Lopez will hear arguments on whether to approve the sale of Infowars to The Onion after Jones and his legal team raised objections to the auction process.

Lawyers for the social media platform X also filed objections in a Nov. 25 complaint submitted to a Texas bankruptcy court. They argue that the Infowars X accounts included in the sale cannot be sold or transferred because X is the legal owner.

The assets of Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, were up for sale, including the Austin studio, Infowars video archive, production equipment, trademarks, Infowars websites, and associated social media accounts.

Jones’s personal X account was not part of the original auction, but Judge Lopez will also decide whether it will be included in the liquidation proceedings.

“X Corp. is compelled to file this Objection to make clear that X Corp. does not consent to the sale or any other transfer of the non-assignable X Accounts, which in turn, means the X Accounts cannot be sold or transferred at this time,” the complaint reads.

According to X lawyers, the X Accounts are “part and parcel of the Services provided by X Corp,” which are governed by the terms of service naming X as the owner of them and the company’s “exclusive property.”

X lawyers also argued that because users can’t create an account, post, react, follow others, or reach their followers through their accounts without a license and X Corp.’s permission, the accounts have no value to a third party.

The Onion acquired the Infowars franchise at a bankruptcy auction on Nov. 14. The sale price was disclosed as $1.75 million.

The sale of the Infowars franchise is part of a liquidation proceeding overseen by Christopher Murray, a court-appointed trustee, to help cover the costs of the nearly $1.5 billion in defamation judgments against Jones.

Jones had claimed the 2012 school shooting that killed 20 students and six teachers was a hoax to increase gun control, and the families of survivors brought court proceedings against him.

He has since acknowledged in subsequent court proceedings that the shooting was real. Jones is appealing the $1.5 billion in judgments, citing free speech rights.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.