Satire publication The Onion acquired Infowars, the controversial platform run by Alex Jones, in a bankruptcy auction on Thursday, with plans to transform it into a satirical site mocking the brand’s previous content. This acquisition follows Jones’s significant defamation judgment related to his false claims about the Sandy Hook shooting, which left him liable for over $1 billion in damages.
The Onion aims to replace Infowars’ disinformation with humor, stating their goal is to end the site’s previous content style and relaunch it in January 2025.
“The Onion, with the help of the Sandy Hook families, has purchased InfoWars. We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website. We have retained the services of some Onion and Clickhole Hall of Famers to pull this off,” CEO Ben Collins wrote in a social media post announcing the purchase. “I can’t wait to show you what we have cooked up.”
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The deal, supported by families of Sandy Hook victims, includes a multi-year advertising partnership with Everytown for Gun Safety.
Jones confirmed the sale in a video, claiming without court order that his operations were being shut down, while the specifics of the auction bid remain undisclosed.
BREAKING: Democrats Are On Their Way To The Building To Shut InfoWars Down Now– Alex Jones Explains The Future of InfoWars In This Critical Emergency Broadcast https://t.co/eBE30t4Gf6
— Alex Jones (@RealAlexJones) November 14, 2024
This sale marks a reversal of fortunes for The Onion, which was itself sold off by parent company G/O Media earlier this year as part of a larger divestment strategy. The publication was acquired by Global Tetrahedron, a Chicago-based firm formed by digital media veterans, including Twilio co-founder Jeff Lawson and Collins, a former NBC News reporter.
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