Satirical news outlet The Onion has acquired Infowars, the controversial website formerly run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, through a bankruptcy auction. The acquisition that was announced today marks a dramatic end to Jones’s control over the platform he used to spread misinformation, most notoriously about the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting.
The deal, supported by Sandy Hook victims’ families and backed by gun safety advocates, will transform Infowars from a hub of conspiracy theories and supplement sales into what The Onion CEO Ben Collins promises will be “a very funny, very stupid website.” The relaunch is scheduled for January next year.
“We thought this would be a hilarious joke,” Collins said, describing the motivation behind the acquisition. “This is going to be our answer to this no-guardrails world where there are no gatekeepers and everything’s kind of insane.”
The sale represents more than just a change in ownership – it’s a form of poetic justice for the Sandy Hook families, who won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Jones in 2022. “The dissolution of Alex Jones’s assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the Sandy Hook shooting.
Adding another layer to this unlikely marriage of satire and serious advocacy, The Onion has partnered with Everytown for Gun Safety in a multi-year advertising deal. The partnership might seem unusual, but both organizations share a commitment to addressing gun violence, albeit through different approaches. The Onion has become known for its tragically recurring headline “‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens” following mass shootings.
So, what will be the fate of Jones’s infamous supplement business? The Onion playfully announced plans to melt down all the diet supplements “into a single candy bar-sized omnivitamin.” Jones himself, who learned of the sale through his lawyers’ meeting with the US Trustee, took to X to announce that “Connecticut Democrats with The Onion newspaper” had bought the platform.
The relaunched Infowars will draw on talent from both The Onion and Clickhole “hall of famers,” with plans to create content that parodies “weird internet personalities” who traffic in misinformation. While The Onion hasn’t disclosed the purchase price, they assured readers in their characteristically satirical style that it cost “less than a trillion dollars.”
Chris Mattei, a lawyer representing the Sandy Hook families, praised the acquisition as a “public service” that will “meaningfully hinder Jones’s ability to do more harm.” Meanwhile, The Onion’s leadership sees an opportunity to transform a former platform for conspiracy theories into something that brings awareness to serious issues through humor.
