Satirical publication “The Onion” buys InfoWars, Alex Jones' conspiracy site

Alex Jones, founder of InfoWars, during a press briefing before his hearing before a US Senate committee, in Washington, September 5, 2018. JIM BOURG / REUTERS

The American satirical news site The Onion becomes owner of the conspiracy site InfoWars, founded by Alex Jones, emblematic figure of the far right in the United States. Global Tetrahedron LLC, the entity that owns The Onionwon the auction during a sale organized after the bankruptcy of the famous disinformation site, according to court documents cited by the Bloomberg agency, Thursday, November 14.

This acquisition, the amount of which was not disclosed, was made with the financial support of certain families affected by the massacre that occurred at the Sandy Hook nursery school in Newton (Connecticut), in 2012, which had 26 dead, including 20 children. Alex Jones was in fact ordered by the American courts to pay nearly 1.5 billion dollars (1.4 billion euros) to these families for having claimed that the attack was staged. His smear campaign brought in its wake a wave of online harassment, threats of rape and death as well as physical attacks against the victims' relatives.

The site will be relaunched in a new form in January 2025

“The death of InfoWars is the justice we have long waited and fought for”welcomed Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed at Sandy Hook, in a press release sent Thursday by his lawyers to the American press. « The Onion is proud to acquire InfoWars and we look forward to continuing the site's tradition of scaring its users with lies until they fork over their money.”commented Ben Collins, CEO of The Onionin a press release, with all the irony that characterizes its publication. Before adding: “Or their bitcoins. We also accept bitcoins. »

Concretely, The Onion becomes the owner of the conspiracy website, more than 400 other domain names, its accounts on social networks, its filming studio in Austin (Texas), its registered trademarks and even its video archives. Questioned by the New York TimesBen Collins explains that he intends to relaunch the InfoWars site in January 2025 by transforming it into a parody of himself, making fun of “strange internet personalities” like Alex Jones, who trade in both misinformation and dietary supplements.

The InfoWars site was no longer accessible Thursday. In a message posted on the social network

Read also | Alex Jones, leading figure in American conspiracy theory

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