A Texas bankruptcy court ruled Tuesday that The Onion’s acquisition of Alex Jones’ disinformation empire Infowars cannot move forward, dealing a blow to the satirical newspaper. The most unrealistic media merger in recent memory is about to be broken up, at least for now, after about a month of legal wrangling.
“I don’t think it’s a sufficient amount,” U.S. Bankruptcy Court Judge Christopher Lopez said in a late-night ruling, according to NBC News. “I do not consent to the sale,” Judge Lopez said, leaving it to Trustee Christopher Murray to decide what to do next. There could be another auction in which The Onion could bid again for the embattled conspiracy theorist’s publication. He may also decide to review Jones’ affiliate First United American, which submitted a revised bid that has not yet been disclosed, according to the Associated Press.
“While we are deeply disappointed by today’s decision, The Onion continues to seek solutions that provide a positive outcome for the horrors endured by the families of Sandy Hook,” the paper said in a statement.X (formerly Twitter) issued a statement. “We will also continue to explore paths toward acquiring Infowars in the coming weeks. Regardless of the outcome of this litigation, creating a better, more interesting Internet is part of our larger mission.”
In 2022, Jones was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion in civil damages to the families of the victims of the 2012 mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newton, Connecticut. Jones told Infowars that the massacre was a hoax and smeared the parents of the slain children as “crisis actors,” leaving grieving families exposed to years of harassment and intimidation by viewers who believed Jones’ lies. He repeatedly falsely claimed that it was an incendiary attack. In the course of multiple defamation lawsuits filed against Mr. Jones and Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, Mr. Jones has said, contrary to previous statements, that the Sandy Hook shootings were “100 percent authentic.” he testified.
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Jones filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy earlier this year to liquidate his assets, including the Infowars brand, to pay at least part of the huge settlement after failing to repay his debts to his victims’ families. asked the judge to change it. A court ruled in September that the free speech system could be put up for auction.
The process took a surprising turn in November when The Onion revealed it had won a court-ordered auction. It was another high-profile stunt for the beloved parody publisher. The company had just relaunched its print edition under new parent company Global Tetrahedron just three months earlier. Global Tetrahedron is a company with a tongue-in-cheek and ominous name that was formed in April to acquire the title from the previous owner. Former NBC News reporter Ben Collins will become the paper’s CEO. The Onion announced in January 2025 that it would be relaunching Infowars and its social channels as a source of irreverent comedy rather than paranoid invective, calling it a “relentless barrage of disinformation from Infowars aimed at selling supplements.” “We will end it and replace it with The Onion’s relentless barrage of information.” Humor in a good way. ” The brand also partnered with gun control nonprofit Everytown for Gun Safety in a revamped Infowars advertising deal.
Panicked by the sale, Mr. Jones made a furious broadcast that “Imperial forces” were storming the studio and trying to take it. That didn’t happen, and soon a company with ties to the right-wing incendiary brand filed a legal challenge to the acquisition. First American United Companies, which is affiliated with Mr. Jones’ nutritional supplement business, claimed that The Onion’s bid for Infowars was only $1.75 million. won the auction by collusion and fraud compared to its asking price of $3.5 million. Murray, the bankruptcy trustee overseeing Free Speech Systems’ liquidation, said First American’s bid was actually “inferior” because the total deal with The Onion was $7 million. Because the majority of the Sandy Hook family had agreed to receive a percentage. It’s not the cash from the sale itself, but a portion of the proceeds from Infowars, which is owned by Onion. (These were the only two sealed bids at the auction.)
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Meanwhile, Elon Musk (who made the controversial decision a year ago to reinstate Jones’ account on X despite being permanently suspended from nearly every other social media platform) has also taken action against this acquisition. In a legal challenge to the sale filed by Company X in November, the company said that pursuant to the user agreement, they are the owners of the Jones and Infowars accounts on the site and will transfer them to a third party. He pointed out that there was no obligation. Purchase the collective assets of the Free Speech System. This unusually aggressive move is a stark reminder that users of such websites have no ultimate control over their own profiles, and it leaves Jones’ digital footprint as a symbol of what he represents. It threw a potential wrench in The Onion’s plan to turn it into a mockery of everything.
Mr. Murray testified Tuesday before Judge Lopez in the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas that The Onion’s proposal should be approved over First American’s. Auctioneer Jeff Tannenbaum defended the sale process in his own testimony when Jones’ lawyers pressed him not to hold a live auction.
Jones himself was not in court this week, but he used his show to continue complaining about The Onion’s potential to seize control of the once-lucrative conspiracy theory factory. “I can’t imagine a judge would find this wrongdoing,” he told the audience Tuesday. “I mean, what they did and what they claimed is just mind-blowing.”
Now that the judge is out of the way, it’s up to Christopher Murray to decide what happens next and whether the cathartic punchline of the Sandy Hook family having a say in the fate of Infowars ultimately comes true. It depends on.
Dec. 11, 10:20 a.m. ET: This article has been updated with comment from The Onion.
