Infowars dramatically falls off air as Alex Jones accused of derailing purchase by The Onion amid launch of new show
Alex Jones’ Infowars dramatically ended its broadcast for the last time on Friday after failing to pay compensation to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims.
The far-right commentator’s controversial site was officially taken down on Thursday, and a comedian who worked for satire site The Onion accused Jones of trying to ‘derail’ the Infowars acquisition with a Hail Mary legal move.
Weeks after The Onion announced it had reached an agreement to acquire Infowars, the site’s new Creative Director, comedian Tim Heidecker, said Jones had “temporarily” blocked the deal.
“This son of a bitch, Alex Jones, somehow managed to get into the Texas Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and get some sort of ‘stay’ by delaying the transfer of the site until another decision comes down,” Heidecker said.
The deal has remained in limbo since The Onion announced the move on April 20; Jones is currently trying to appeal the court decision to liquidate his company.
Infowars has struggled to stay afloat since Jones was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims in 2021, falsely claiming the tragedy in which 20 children and six teachers were killed was a ‘hoax’.
After years of court battles, in 2024 a Texas judge ordered that Infowars’ parent company, Free Speech Systems, be liquidated to pay the families.
The Onion said it bought Infowars with the support of the Sanky Hook families, and on Friday Jones said a court-appointed official told him and his staff to leave their Austin headquarters.
Alex Jones’ Infowars ceased broadcasting for the last time on Friday after failing to pay compensation to families of Sandy Hook shooting victims
Although The Onion’s Heidecker said Jones had found a court to make a last-minute decision, only an ‘Out of Broadcast’ note appeared on the Infowars site Friday.
In a video shared on Friday, Jones announced to his followers: ‘It’s locked and that’s it, we’re gone.
‘Now maybe we’ll win in court, go back there or something, but I don’t think that’s going to happen.’
Jones’ Hail Mary move saw a three-judge panel on the Texas Court of Appeals issue an order Wednesday night temporarily freezing Infowars’ turnover of assets to the Sandy Hook families.
The judges also halted appeals of defamation orders filed by the families against Jones.
According to Bloomberg, the judges’ decision meant restricting the court-appointed trustee from control of Infowars’ assets to satisfy the $1.5 billion judgment awarded to the Sanky Hook families.
The buyer had been making a bid to license the trademark and related domain names for Free Speech Systems, but judges paused the move during the appeal hearing.
On Thursday, The Onion CEO Ben Collins criticized the decision as an “unprecedented situation” but promised it would not prevent Infowars from being shut down.
He signed a post on his Bluesky account: ‘Goodbye, get lost, see you soon.’
Infowars has been struggling to stay afloat since it was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to the families of the 2021 Sandy Hook shooting victims after Jones falsely claimed the tragedy in which 20 children and six teachers were killed was a ‘hoax’.
Despite the closure of Infowars’ site, Jones announced that he was not ending his own broadcast on X and launched a new program called The Alex Jones Network to continue broadcasting to his millions of followers.
The Onion said it bought Infowars as revenge for Jones’ outrageous allegations against the Sandy Hook families, and that they plan to relaunch the site as a satirical outlet.
“We basically thought this would be the funniest joke of all time,” Collins told Good Morning America in 2024.
‘Infowars is a place where lies and nonsense are purged badly. The garbage they have thrown away over the last twenty years has really harmed a lot of people.
‘They targeted the families of Sandy Hook victims, which led to the defamation lawsuit that allowed the auction.’
Despite the closure of Infowars’ site, Jones announced that he would not be ending his own broadcast on X.
He said Friday that he is launching a new show called The Alex Jones Network to continue broadcasting to his millions of followers.
