Farewell to Infowars: satirical site The Onion buys Alex Jones' media outlet at auction

It was a rough day for presenter Alex Jones. This Thursday, November 14, he finally shut down his controversial Infowars website, which was acquired at auction by satirical media outlet The Onion, the progressive version of The Babylon Bee.

Jones himself announced the Infowars purchase earlier on ‘X' in an impromptu video.

“I just got word 15 minutes ago that my lawyers and folks met with the U.S. trustee over our bankruptcy this morning and they said they are shutting us down even without a court order this morning," Jones said. "I don’t know what’s going to happen, but I’m going to be here until they come and turn the lights off."

Reports subsequently began to come out about the media acquisition and confirmation from The Onion, which had the support of the families of the children killed in the Sandy Hook school shooting.

In the acquisition announcement, where the purchase amount was not disclosed, The Onion announced that it will immediately shut down Infowars and work with gun safety organization 'Everytown for Gun Safety' to convert it into a humor site, launching in January 2025.

"The Onion is proud to acquire Infowars, and we look forward to continuing its tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash," said Ben Collins, CEO of The Onion. He added: "We hope the Sandy Hook families will be able to marvel at the cosmic joke we will soon make InfoWars.com."

For years, the Sandy Hook and Jones families were engaged in a court battle that ended up being favorable to the families of the victims of the mass shooting.

Specifically, the families accused Jones of defamation on his show by claiming that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax. This lie, according to the lawsuit, caused emotional distress to the family members.

Jurors found Jones liable for defamation and awarded the families nearly approximately $1.4 billion in total on their claims. However, Jones claimed he could not pay the sum and filed for bankruptcy, so the families have not yet been able to collect anything.

Twenty children and six adults were killed in that 2012 school shooting in Newtown, Connecticut.

The families celebrated the purchase and shutdown of Infowars.

"Our clients knew that true accountability meant an end to Infowars and an end to Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear at scale," said Chris Mattei, attorney for the Connecticut families. "By divesting Jones of Infowars’ assets, the families and the team at The Onion have done a public service and will meaningfully hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm."