Coup landed

Satirical website buys the “InfoWars” conspiracy portal

Alex Jones was ordered to pay a total of around 1.5 billion US dollars in damages for his false claims.

(Bild: Tyler Sizemore)

The American satire website "The Onion" has landed a coup with the purchase of the online portal "Infowars" by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones. The campaign is likely to be of particular satisfaction to families who lost children in the 2012 shooting rampage at Sandy Hook Elementary School,

a belated sense of satisfaction.

At the Sandy Hook elementary school in the US state of Connecticut, a 20-year-old shot dead 20 schoolchildren and six teachers. Jones had claimed for years that the attack had been staged with actors. The families went to court and prevailed with claims for damages amounting to billions.

Jones was ordered to pay a total of around 1.5 billion US dollars (around 1.4 billion euros) in damages for his false claims. This led to Jones' insolvency in 2022 and the auctioning off of "Infowars".

The portal was Jones' main source of money. Among other things, he sold dubious dietary supplements there. He also spread various conspiracy theories and engaged in political opinion making.

Parodic new edition
"The Onion" has a long tradition as a satirical publication and has been owned by tech entrepreneur Jeff Lawson since this spring. "Infowars" is to be relaunched in January as a parody of the previous portal, the head of "Onion" parent company Global Tetrahedron told the "New York Times". They will then make fun of people like Jones.

However, the sale of vitamins and food supplements would be stopped immediately - and the stocks would be boiled down to a single multivitamin bar, which could possibly guarantee immortality, the satirical website said in keeping with its status