The Onion emerges victorious in bankruptcy auction for Infowars, defeating Alex Jones

The Onion, a satirical news company known for spoofing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, has won the bankruptcy auction for control over his media empire, including the far-right website InfoWars. Jones announced the sale, revealing that The Onion had purchased his company, Free Speech Systems. The Onion plans to shut down InfoWars and rebuild the website with internet humor writers and content creators. Jones, who made false and bizarre claims about conspiracies and government wrongdoing, built his empire off Infowars but faced financial troubles after being sued by families of Sandy Hook shooting victims. Juries awarded the families nearly $1.5 billion in defamation verdicts against Jones, who claimed he couldn’t afford to pay. He filed for bankruptcy in 2022 and is looking to liquidate his assets to satisfy creditors. The details of the auction, including the amount offered for Free Speech Systems, are not yet known. The sale is intended to help Jones pay off the defamation verdicts, but the families have been unable to collect anything from him so far. Brandy Zadrozny and Erik Ortiz, senior reporters for NBC News, cover misinformation, extremism, racial injustice, and social inequality. This story is still developing, and updates will be provided.

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