(AP) – Satirical news outlet The Onion has won the bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars in a bankruptcy auction backed by the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims to whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation lawsuits because he called the massacre a hoax. the families announced Thursday.

“The liquidation of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long waited for and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, in a statement provided by his lawyers. The sale price was not immediately disclosed.

Satirical news publication The Onion won the bid for Alex Jones’ Infowars in a bankruptcy auction, backed by the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims to whom Jones owes more than $1 billion in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax, the families announced Thursday. .

“The liquidation of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long waited for and fought for,” said Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, in a statement provided by his lawyers.
The sale price was not immediately disclosed.

Jones confirmed The Onion’s acquisition of Infowars in a social media video on Thursday and said he plans to file legal challenges to stop it. An email seeking comment has been sent to Infowars.

It was not immediately clear what The Onion planned to do with the conspiracy theory platform, including its website, social media accounts, Austin, Texas studio, trademarks and video archive. Chicago-based Onion did not immediately return emails seeking comment Thursday.
Sealed bids for the private auction were opened on Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones have expressed interest in buying Infowars. The other bidders were not disclosed.

The Onion, a satirical website that succeeds in convincing people to believe the absurd, bills itself as “the world’s leading news publication, providing highly regarded and universally respected coverage of national, international and local news events” and says that it has 4.3 trillion daily readers.

Jones said on his show that if his detractors were to buy Infowars, he would move his daily broadcasts and product sales to a new studio, websites and social media accounts he has already created. He also said that if his supporters win the auction, they could stay on Infowars platforms.

Relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting in Newtown, Conn., was a hoax staged by actors crisis to push for more gun control. The parents and children of many of the victims testified that they had been traumatized by Jones’ conspiracies and threats from his followers.

The lawsuits were filed in Connecticut and Texas. Attorneys for the families in the Connecticut lawsuit said they worked with The Onion to try to acquire Infowars.

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