The Onion Buys Infowars

[UltraBudgie]

Well, it looks like The Onion has won the bid; infowars.com is currently offline.

The Onion Says It Has Bought Infowars, Alex Jones’s Site, Out of Bankruptcy
The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements.

The Onion, a satirical publication that skewers newsmakers and current events, said on Thursday that it had won a bankruptcy auction to acquire Infowars, a website founded and operated by the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.

The Onion said that the bid was sanctioned by the families of the victims of the mass shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School, who in 2022 won a $1.4 billion defamation lawsuit against Mr. Jones and his company, Free Speech Systems.

...The Onion plans to relaunch Infowars in January as a parody of itself, he said, mocking “weird internet personalities” like Mr. Jones who traffic in misinformation and health supplements.

“We thought this would be a hilarious joke,” Mr. Collins said. “This is going to be our answer to this no-guardrails world where there are no gatekeepers and everything’s kind of insane.”

...The plan is to relaunch it next year with an approach reminiscent of Clickhole, The Onion’s sister site that poked fun at “listicles” from BuzzFeed and other purveyors of viral content.

https://www.nytimes.com/2024/11/14/busin...onion.html
Archive link: https://archive.ph/hXLKQ

It sort of feels like the end of an era. Where will we get our Bone Broth? I bought their nascent iodine supplement once; it was pretty good.

[Maxmars]

It will be interesting to observe the 'effect' this "purchase" has on the content and editorial conduct of Infowars.com.

Whether the content will change, or perhaps the tone and scope of infowars.com generally.

Or could this be a simple "stunt?"

Infowars had nearly been reduced to a "meme" due to the relentless efforts of the main stream's talking heads and their press over the years... something akin to the efforts to reduce Trump to a meme... which bit them in the ass.

The Onion always seemed like a "Mad Magazine" style production effort... strictly for entertainment and satire... except for the internet era.

Their "rescue" of Infowars might end in a benign situation for them... but somehow I wonder about all things "entertainment" being slathered over what was a production about "disclosure of government and elite behaviors in society."

The satirical news site planned to turn Infowars into a parody of itself, mocking “weird internet personalities” who peddle conspiracy theories and health supplements.
[formatting mine]

Should we expect embedded shaming, caricatures of personalities, and dismissal of any observations which spark criticism?  I suppose that will depend on the leadership and their intent...

"Mocking"... the sign that "news reporting' is not in the agenda.  The stated plan outlines the death of Infowars.  Proof positive that the Onion is just another "Main Stream Media" outlet...

[UltraBudgie]

It will be interesting to observe the 'effect' this "purchase" has on the content and editorial conduct of Infowars.com.

Whether the content will change, or perhaps the tone and scope of infowars.com generally.

It's gone dude.

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones went ballistic after his Infowars website was taken down during a live broadcast.

During a simulcast with Steve Bannon's War Room on Thursday, Jones announced that Infowars.com was offline after The Onion successfully won an auction for the site's assets.

"Steve, Infowars has been taken down!" Jones exclaimed. "Infowars.com has been taken down! No court order, nothing."

https://www.rawstory.com/alex-jones-infowars-taken-down

Edit: Maybe a stunt, I don't know, Mr Jones is certainly no stranger to those, but this seems a bit more real than usual...
Edit: Looks like infowars changed from Barracuda to CloudFlare on Nov 3rd; they prolly yanked the server today to make a point. Dunno if it'll be back.
Edit: Wonder who bought the rest of the stuff, or if The Onion got it all:

Up for grabs at the auction were Infowars production rights and materials, the Infowars store, domain names, production equipment and other assets — including a Terradyne armored truck and a Winnebago motor home — that can be purchased in their entirety or in parts, according to the firm, ThreeSixty Asset Advisors. Jones broadcasts from the Austin, Texas, area.

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/oni...rcna179936

[IdeomotorPrisoner]

Well, it looks like The Onion has won the bid; infowars.com is currently offline.

It sort of feels like the end of an era. Where will we get our Bone Broth? I bought their nascent iodine supplement once; it was pretty good.

This is the sale that cried wolf. I had to check just to make sure it wasn't a satire story itself. Everyone's picking it up though.

Took The Onion 90 minutes upon completion of sale to shutter the site, which doesn't need a court order.

They bought it to shut it down, maybe it was patriotism?

GOOD RIDDANCE. He may have earned getting canceled for making the world as paranoid and broken as him, the clock that was right twice.

He became pot committed over a story connected to his ego and a refusal to back down, and they financially shut him up... for abusing grief and selling a paranoid line of reasoning that slowly bled the critical thinking from many a listener/viewer.

But that's not why he deserved it. Free speech alone can't cause harm or single people out and publicly defame them.

It's like if you go to the service of a girl killed by a drunk driver and start yelling, "The family made it all up. There was no daughter killed, no accident! Thats not even a real body in that casket! They deceptively staged this all to play on your sympathy and get you to support their anti-drunk driving agenda."

You'd deserve to get your ass kicked for that. Publish it in media and we'll see you in court.

It also reminds me of that guy that fought to keep his "Virginia 'EAT THE' children first" license plate. When he finally lost his battle they sent him a plate reading "6668UUP"

And it's pretty much true, to a much more financially impactful extent, the "devil ate you up," Alex Jones.

C'est le vie to his contribution.

[BeTheGoddess]

Sounds like something you would read on the Onion...

[KKLoco]

But they are turning the freaking frogs gay!

[bakedgood]

But they are turning the freaking frogs gay!

That was me.

[bakedgood]

This is the sale that cried wolf. I had to check just to make sure it wasn't a satire story itself. Everyone's picking it up though.

Took The Onion 90 minutes upon completion of sale to shutter the site, which doesn't need a court order.

They bought it to shut it down, maybe it was patriotism?

GOOD RIDDANCE. He may have earned getting canceled for making the world as paranoid and broken as him, the clock that was right twice.

He became pot committed over a story connected to his ego and a refusal to back down, and they financially shut him up... for abusing grief and selling a paranoid line of reasoning that slowly bled the critical thinking from many a listener/viewer.

But that's not why he deserved it. Free speech alone can't cause harm or single people out and publicly defame them.

It's like if you go to the service of a girl killed by a drunk driver and start yelling, "The family made it all up. There was no daughter killed, no accident! Thats not even a real body in that casket! They deceptively staged this all to play on your sympathy and get you to support their anti-drunk driving agenda."

You'd deserve to get your ass kicked for that. Publish it in media and we'll see you in court.

It also reminds me of that guy that fought to keep his "Virginia 'EAT THE' children first" license plate. When he finally lost his battle they sent him a plate reading "6668UUP"

And it's pretty much true, to a much more financially impactful extent, the "devil ate you up," Alex Jones.

C'est le vie to his contribution.

I miss the old Bohemian Grove Alex Jones. I hate what he's become. Still, he makes me laugh. He's just not doing it on purpose.

[UltraBudgie]

But they are turning the freaking frogs gay!

August 2018 was peak Gay Frog:


https://trends.google.com/trends/explore...rogs&hl=en

The more you know ™

[pianopraze]

Glad to see he’s getting back in shape. He’s looking a lot better. He was looking very unhealthy for a while. Saw him on Crowders election night steam.