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One of the most controversial platforms on the internet may have a new owner, as satirical news publication The Onion seeks to buy far-right website Infowars. Infowars was auctioned off after bankruptcy, and the transaction would end the control of the site by its longtime owner and founder, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

Jones has long been a lightning rod and was forced to put Infowars up for sale after losing a Connecticut-based defamation lawsuit, which put him on the hook for $1.5 billion in damages. But The Onion and its parent company, Global Tetrahedron LLC, intend to keep Infowars alive if the deal closes — something Jones and his lawyers are trying to prevent.

Why does The Onion want Infowars?

The store wants to help pay the families of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, most of whom are Jones’ estate creditors. Jones was sued for defamation of the families for claiming on his show that the massacre “was carried out by actors following a script written by government officials to bolster the push for gun control,” said ABC News. A $1.4 billion judgment was entered against Jones in 2022. However, the Sandy Hook families have not seen any of that money because Jones filed for bankruptcy and moved to liquidate its assets.

The Onion’s bid for the site was reportedly $1.75 million, and the Sandy Hook families “agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of The Onion’s bid, enabling its success,” ABC News said. Infowars “has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to creating anger and radicalizing the most vulnerable members of society,” Global Tetrahedron CEO Bryce P. Tetraeder said in a article. In keeping with The Onion’s satirical style, The Onion plans to make Infowars a “very funny, very stupid website,” the site’s CEO, Ben Collins, said on social media.

But Jones isn’t going down without a fight After The Onion moved to buy Infowars, the judge in Jones’ bankruptcy case paused the sale and “ordered an evidentiary hearing” to “determine whether the auction was conducted fairly, which could delay the process” of the deal, said The Guardian. Jones himself is also suing The Onion, calling the deal unfair and “pure nonsense.” The sale goes to that evidentiary hearing, and “I’m going to find out exactly what happened,” Judge Christopher Lopez said, though he added, “I personally don’t care who wins the auction. I care about process and transparency. .”

What is happening with Infowars?

The details of what The Onion will do with Infowars if the sale goes through have not been fleshed out, but it has been made clear that the site will not be shut down entirely. Rather, The Onion will “end Jones’ Infowars and rebuild the site, with well-known Internet humor writers and content creators,” said NBC News. It is expected to launch the new site in January 2025.

The Onion also established a partnership with the gun control group Everytown for Gun Safety, in which the group will have an “exclusive advertising deal” for gun safety campaigns, said CNN. Founded in the wake of the Sandy Hook shooting, Everytown is now the largest gun control group in the United States

Everytown and The Onion “will continue to raise awareness on Infowar’s channels about gun violence prevention and present actual solutions to our nation’s gun violence crisis, including bipartisan, common sense measures and public safety initiatives supported by Everytown,” the organization said in a press release. Gun control has long played a role in The Onion’s stories. The site has published a satirical article, “‘No way to prevent this,’ says only nation where this regularly happens,” 37 times since 2014.