The Onion CEO explains Infowars purchase amid Alex Jones’s claims about auction
Posted on 11/17/2024
The Onion’s CEO Ben Collins confirmed that the publication purchased Alex Jones’ Infowars outlet in a Saturday series of posts on the social media platform Bluesky amid Jones’s claims of wrongdoings and illegal activity.
“I just wanted to give a quick update on The Onion’s purchase of InfoWars, which we can’t wait to relaunch as the dumbest website on the internet,” Collins wrote.
“The long and short of it: We won the auction and — you’re not going to believe this — the previous InfoWars folks aren’t taking it well.”
He shared that The Onion, a satirical news website, won the bid for InfoWars on Thursday at Jones’s bankruptcy auction, along with the Connecticut Sandy Hook families of victims. Jones previously said the massacre was a “hoax.”
Jones was held liable for nearly $1.5 billion in damages due to his false claims about the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The families moved to liquidate his business and take over his social media accounts which was granted by a judge in September.
Throughout their efforts to acquire Jones’s platforms, he has spread conspiracies about legal missteps in the process.
He recently claimed that the auction for his Infowars site was changed from a “regular auction” to a “secret” auction two days before it occurred. He also said that higher bidders were prevented from submitting offers so that a lower bid could be accepted.
Jones also claimed the presiding judge admitted that the auction “was not real” and that there are ongoing criminal investigations about the mishandling of bids.
Collins denied those claims and shared that Jones was permitted to continue operating Infowars until the sale is complete, and that Jones has used the platform as an opportunity to fundraise and spread misinformation about the auction winners.
“We expected all of this, obviously. Buying this site was always going to be fun later on, but annoying right away. The fun part is still to come,” Collins wrote.
He then added The Onion was looking forward to completing the sale at a court hearing that will take place a week from Monday.
“I just wanted to give a quick update on The Onion’s purchase of InfoWars, which we can’t wait to relaunch as the dumbest website on the internet,” Collins wrote.
“The long and short of it: We won the auction and — you’re not going to believe this — the previous InfoWars folks aren’t taking it well.”
He shared that The Onion, a satirical news website, won the bid for InfoWars on Thursday at Jones’s bankruptcy auction, along with the Connecticut Sandy Hook families of victims. Jones previously said the massacre was a “hoax.”
Jones was held liable for nearly $1.5 billion in damages due to his false claims about the 2012 mass shooting in Newtown, Conn.
The families moved to liquidate his business and take over his social media accounts which was granted by a judge in September.
Throughout their efforts to acquire Jones’s platforms, he has spread conspiracies about legal missteps in the process.
He recently claimed that the auction for his Infowars site was changed from a “regular auction” to a “secret” auction two days before it occurred. He also said that higher bidders were prevented from submitting offers so that a lower bid could be accepted.
Jones also claimed the presiding judge admitted that the auction “was not real” and that there are ongoing criminal investigations about the mishandling of bids.
Collins denied those claims and shared that Jones was permitted to continue operating Infowars until the sale is complete, and that Jones has used the platform as an opportunity to fundraise and spread misinformation about the auction winners.
“We expected all of this, obviously. Buying this site was always going to be fun later on, but annoying right away. The fun part is still to come,” Collins wrote.
He then added The Onion was looking forward to completing the sale at a court hearing that will take place a week from Monday.
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