The Onion Buys Alex Jones’ Infowars in Bankruptcy AuctionNovember 15, 2024

Yesterday, Global Tetrahedron, the corporation that owns the satirical news website The Onion, was the winning bidder for Alex Jones’ Infowars at a Chapter 7 bankruptcy auction. Jones and Infowars owner Free Speech Systems both filed for bankruptcy in 2022 after eight families impacted by the Sandy Hook shooting won a $1.4 billion defamation award over Jones’ claims that the school shooting that killed 26 people (including 20 children between 6 and 7 years old) was a hoax.

The Onion’s undisclosed bid was for the Infowars website, the related social media accounts and trademarks, a studio in Austin, TX, and a video archive. The Sandy Hook families agreed to lower their recovery to boost The Onion’s bid to buy key Infowars assets in an effort to keep these assets away from buyers who might let Jones continue his show. Chris Mattei, attorney for the Sandy Hook families stated, “Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale.” Mattie continued, “By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm.”

The Onion plans to relaunch Infowars in January as a parody of itself. Everytown for Gun Safety, an anti-violence organization, stated it will be the exclusive advertiser for Infowars as part of a multiyear agreement.