The Onion Buys Alex Jones’ Infowars at Bankruptcy Auction

Alex Jones speaks to the media after arriving at the federal courthouse for a hearing in front of a bankruptcy judge, in Houston on June 14, 2024. David J. Phillip/AP Photo

Satirical news site The Onion has won the bidding for Alex Jones’ Infowars franchise at a bankruptcy auction.

The sale price was not disclosed when The Onion’s CEO Ben Collins announced the acquisition on Thursday. He said the deal has the support of families of victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments to the Sandy Hook families for making defamatory claims about the Sandy Hook shooting—the deadliest school shooting in U.S. history, in which 26 people were killed.

In September, a Texas judge ruled that the broadcaster’s assets—including the Infowars properties—could be auctioned off to help cover the penalties.

In a video statement posted on social media platform X, where he has nearly 3 million followers, Jones said he plans to file legal challenges against the sale.

“I just got word 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and folks met with the U.S. trustee over our bankruptcy this morning and they said they are shutting us down even without a court order this morning,” Jones said.

“The Connecticut Democrats with The Onion newspaper bought us.”

It was not immediately clear what The Onion plans to do with Infowars, including its website, social media accounts, trademarks, a studio in Austin, Texas, as well as other intellectual properties. Founded in 1988, the satirical paper has a long history of creating absurd “news” stories that parody real events, sometimes resulting in high-profile readers mistakenly believing its satire to be genuine reports.

“The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash,” Collins said. “Or Bitcoin. We will also accept Bitcoin.”

Meanwhile, Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit group advocating for gun control, has hinted at a twist for Infowars’ future.

Accusing Jones of engaging in “a relentless barrage of disinformation for the sake of selling supplements,” Everytown announced Thursday it has signed a multiyear deal to become Infowars’ exclusive advertiser during the site’s relaunch and use the platform to promote gun control activism.

“It’s fitting that a platform once used to profit off of tragedy will be a tool of education, hence our multi-year advertising commitment to this new venture,” said John Feinblatt, Everytown’s president.

“We’re proud to be a part of what comes next, not only in terms of staunching the flow of hurtful misinformation, but also for the potential this new venture has to help Everytown reach new audiences ready to hold the gun industry accountable for contributing to our nation’s gun violence epidemic.”