Satirical news publication The Onion has bought Alex Jones’ Infowars at a bankruptcy auction – and it has some big plans.

The website’s bid was backed by families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims whom Jones owes more than $US1 billion ($1.5 billion) in defamation judgments for calling the massacre a hoax.

“The dissolution of Alex Jones’ assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for,” Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said on Thursday (US time) through his lawyers.

The Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platform’s website; social media accounts; studio in Austin, Texas; trademarks; and video archive. The sale price was not immediately disclosed.

The Onion reportedly plans to use Infowars as a parody site and to promote gun education. It said its “exclusive launch advertiser” would be the gun violence prevention organisation Everytown for Gun Safety.

“The Sandy Hook families decided to back our bid because it meant they could end Jones’ platform for spreading lies and replace it with something humorous and educational,” Ben Collins, chief executive of The Onion‘s parent company, Global Tetrahedron, told The Associated Press.

The Infowars website appeared to have been taken down by Thursday morning.

Jones, however, was angry and defiant as he broadcast live with Donald Trump ally Steve Bannon, vowing to challenge the sale and the auction process in court. He said he would move to a new studio, websites and social media accounts that were already set up.

The Onion bills itself as “the world’s leading news publication, offering highly acclaimed, universally revered coverage of breaking national, international, and local news events” and says it has 4.3 trillion daily readers. It confirmed the sale with a satirical column on its website.

“No price would be too high for such a cornucopia of malleable assets and minds,” the post said.

“Yet, in a stroke of good fortune, a formidable special interest group has outwitted the hapless owner of InfoWars (a forgettable man with an already-forgotten name) and forced him to sell it at a steep bargain: Less than one trillion dollars.”

The Onion consulted on the bidding with some of the Sandy Hook families that sued Jones for defamation and emotional distress in lawsuits in Connecticut and Texas, lawyers for the families said.

“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 Christopher Mattei, a lawyer for the families.

Via our parent company @globaltetrahedron.bsky.social CEO @brycetetraeder.bsky.social: theonion.com/heres-why-i-…

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— The Onion (@theonion.com) 15 November 2024 at 01:06

Everytown for Gun Safety said it would use the Infowars platforms to raise awareness about gun violence.

Sandy Hook families sued Jones and his company for repeatedly saying on his show that the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children and six educators in Newtown, Connecticut, was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.

Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatised by Jones’ conspiracies and threats by his followers.

During his live show on Thursday, Jones repeatedly said the bankruptcy trustee and others were in the building and threatening to shut down the show at any moment. That did not immediately happen.

“I’m gonna be here until they come in and turn the lights off,” Jones said.

Sealed bids for the private auction opened on Wednesday. Both supporters and detractors of Jones had expressed interest in buying Infowars.

Jones had said on his show that if his supporters won the bidding, he could stay on the Infowars platforms.

-with AAP