Onion wins bid for Infowars’ equipment, brand

Satirical news site The Onion acquired conservative news platform Infowars this week after winning a bidding war with supporters of Alex Jones, the site’s original owner.

With help from the families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, The Onion bought Infowars on Wednesday. The auction win gives the site control over Infowars’ brand name, social media accounts, website, production equipment and customer lists.

“The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash,” Onion CEO Ben Collins said.

The Onion didn’t disclose the purchase amount but said the victims’ family members who supported the bid agreed to forgo additional compensation to help improve the company’s offer. The Onion said it will host new content on the Infowars website starting early next year.

“We were told this outcome would be nearly impossible, but we are no strangers to impossible fights. The world needs to see that having a platform does not mean you are above accountability,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed at Sandy Hook. “The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for.”

Mr. Jones agreed this year to auction off everything related to the site to help pay the nearly $1.5 billion he owes to the families of Sandy Hook victims after losing a defamation case. Mr. Jones had claimed that the shooting, in which 20 children and six adults were killed, was a false flag operation to justify gun-control measures and said that the grieving parents looked like paid actors. 

He had asked the families to let Infowars stay on the air in exchange for more money, but they were having none of that.

“Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Inforwars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale,”  Chris Mattei, attorney for the Sandy Hook families, said in a statement. “After surviving unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ hollow offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air because doing so would have put other families in harm’s way.” 

Mr. Jones had called on Infowars fans to support the site by outbidding hostile actors like The Onion. After learning that The Onion won, he called the acquisition “unconstitutional” and asked fans to continue supporting him.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” Mr. Jones said. “But I’m going to be here until they come in there and turn the lights off. I’m going to say, ‘Where’s your court order?’”