The satirical newspaper The onion successfully acquired Information wars and its associated intellectual property, ultimately divesting the conspiracy theorist Alex Jones from the right-wing disinformation group.

According to Oliver Darcy Status reportthe agreement grants The onion ownership of Infowars’ “website, product inventory, customer lists, social media accounts and intellectual property.”

In a series of lawsuits decided in 2022, Jones was ordered to pay $1.5 billion to the families of Sandy Hook victims for its repeated false claims that the 2012 massacre of children at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Connecticut was a hoax. In September, a Texas judge ruled that Jones’ assets – including the Infowars properties – could to be sold at auction in order to pay the penalties owed by Jones.

We do not yet know exactly to what extent The onion paid to acquire one of the most toxic properties in American media, but the publication declared Thursday, that “the goal of this acquisition is to end Infowars’ incessant barrage of misinformation for the sole purpose of selling supplements and replace it with The onionIt’s a never-ending barrage of humor for good.

Jones didn’t seem happy with the news a video published after the announcement of the acquisition, referring to The onionbased in Chicago, under the name “Connecticut Democrats”, while complaining about the bidding process.

The onion also announced that it had partnered with gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety to facilitate the acquisition, which would serve as the exclusive advertising partner for the relaunch of Infowars under its new parent company. “It’s fitting that a platform once used to profit from tragedy becomes a tool for education, hence our multi-year advertising commitment to this new venture,” added John Feinblatt, president of Everytown for Gun Safety, in Tuesday’s press release. “We are proud to be a part of what comes next, not only in terms of stemming the flow of hurtful misinformation, but also the potential of this new venture to help Everytown reach new audiences ready to stand up to the gun industry responsible for his contribution to the epidemic of gun violence in our country.

Chris Mattei, an attorney representing several Sandy Hook families, added that “from day one, these families have fought against all odds to bring true accountability to Alex Jones and his corrupt enterprise. Our clients knew that true accountability meant the end of Infowars and the end of Jones’ ability to spread lies, pain and fear on a massive scale. After surviving an unimaginable loss with courage and integrity, they rejected Jones’ empty offers for allegedly more money if they would only let him stay on the air, because it would have put other families in danger.

“They are heroes, and it has been an honor and privilege to be their advocates throughout this fight. By divesting Infowars’ Jones assets, the families and team of The onion have performed a public service and will significantly hinder Jones’ ability to do more harm,” Mattei said.

In a frenzied emergency broadcast that followed the news, Jones fell back on a tactic he’s been implementing for years: hysterically telling his viewers that his operation will soon be shut down.

“They’re in the control room,” Jones told viewers on his backup streaming platform Banned Video. “Imperial troops are through the glass.” Longtime Trump adviser and right-wing operative Steve Bannon, who joined Jones on the emergency broadcast, repeatedly asked Jones for an update on what these “imperial troops” were doing and suggested to film them live.

“Go into the control room, put a damn camera in their face and let’s get a name, rank and serial number,” Bannon suggested, claiming the “Gestapo” was going after Jones.

Jones deflected and continued broadcasting without interruption. He later claimed that the “troops” had simply given up. “They heard what you just said and they left the building,” Jones told Bannon.

During the broadcast, the main Infowars website was shut down as Jones continued to connect his backup outlets and accounts to viewers.