Alex Jones lost Infowars but succeeded in ushering in a new era of right-wing media

The sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media empire is a major blow to one of the defining independent media brands that ushered in a new era of fringe thinking, mainstreaming conspiracy theories once banished to the edges of the internet.

The sale of conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media empire is a major blow to one of the defining independent media brands that ushered in a new era of fringe thinking, mainstreaming conspiracy theories once banished to the edges of the internet.

And while Jones’ Infowars brand is now owned by the satirical news site The Onion, media researchers and conservative media experts say its legacy will live on thanks to the far-right media ecosystem it helped inspire, which continues to flourish.

“Right-wing media is robust and only becoming more robust,” said A.J. Bauer, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Alabama who focuses on conservative news. And with some emboldened after Donald Trump’s 2024 election win, “this can be a race to the bottom in terms of misinformation and the radical right.” 

The Onion, which has repeatedly lampooned Jones on its website, acquired Infowars on Thursday in a bankruptcy auction with the support of several families of the victims of the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut, who successfully sued Jones after he repeatedly called the massacre a hoax.

Infowars’ website was quickly shut down after Jones confirmed during a broadcast on X that The Onion won the auction for assets belonging to his company, Free Speech Systems. He later returned to broadcasting from another studio, telling his audience he was forced to vacate the Infowars facility in Austin, Texas, and needed its help with legal donations to fight the “fake bidding process.”

https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/internet/alex-jones-lost-infowars-new-era-right-wing-media-rcna180145

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