For once, the “funniest possible outcome” is not an exaggeration. The Onion, the satirical news website that started as a newspaper in the 1980s, says it won a bankruptcy auction to acquire InfoWars, the fringe right-wing website run by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
It appears that InfoWars could go offline imminently, though Jones says he will continue to broadcast until the last possible moment and is promoting a new website where he plans to restart his show. “At any time they could literally just shut us off, any minute, poof,” Jones said in a livestream on X. “There’s a backup studio in the Alex Jones network, we think ahead. This will have a giant Streisand Effect, they think we’re defeated, we’re not defeated.” Jones started his career streaming from his home, and it seems likely that he will now return to those roots.
For years, Jones spread false allegations that the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting never actually happened, and that the parents of the victims were crisis actors hired with the intent of repealing Second Amendment rights. The claims led to significant harassment being directed at the families over the years. After suing Jones for defamation in Connecticut and Texas, guilty rulings ultimately saddled Jones with over $1.4 billion dollars in damages. Jones’s media empire was subsequently forced into liquidation. He has since acknowledged that the shooting was not a false flag operation.
Despite being untouchable by most advertisers, InfoWars has raked in tens of millions of dollars annually on the sale of supplements with names like “Brain Force Ultra” and “Survival Shield X-2.” In bankruptcy, Jones reported more than $10 million in personal assets. While has been forced to sell off much of his assets, Texas law allows Jones to keep his personal home in Austin valued at $2 million.
Considering that he was reinstated on X under Elon Musk and continues to hold a sizable audience, Jones is unlikely to disappear for good.
Jones had hoped that supporters would come forward to buy InfoWars and allow him to continue broadcasting his daily news show, but it seems that didn’t ultimately come to pass. It’s unclear how much The Onion paid for InfoWars. The Onion itself was acquired in April by Jeff Lawson, the billionaire founder of Twilio, and brought in former NBC News reporter Ben Collins as CEO. Its previous owner G/O Media, also owned Gizmodo until this summer.
Under its new ownership, The Onion has returned to producing videos in its classic style, a sign that Lawson has been willing to invest significant money in the business.
“The Onion’s goal with the acquisition is to end Infowars’ relentless barrage of disinformation for the sake of selling supplements and replace it with The Onion’s relentless barrage of humor for good,” a press release reads. “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. Or Bitcoin. We also accept Bitcoin.”
The Onion partnered on the acquisition with Everytown for Gun Safety, a non-profit formed after the Sandy Hook shooting to advocate for gun control. The press release says that Everytown signed a multi-year advertising agreement and will be the exclusive advertiser on Infowars during the relaunch period.
“We hope the Sandy Hook families will be able to marvel at the cosmic joke we will make of Infowars,” said Collins. Jones is already considered somewhat of a parody for his outrageous and over-the-top claims, and clips from his show have repeatedly been used to comedic effect. It’s unclear how The Onion could make anything more absurd. But either way, it should give some closure to the families affected by Jones’ years of harassment.
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