Judge Weighs Bid to Acquire Alex Jones's Infowars

Texas judge Maya Guerra Gamble is considering an April 20 proposal and if granted, The Onion would have an exclusive but temporary license to Free Speech Systems, which is the parent company of Infowars.

Juliette Fairley

Published: 4/22/2026, 2:03:46 PM EDT

Judge Weighs Bid to Acquire Alex Jones's Infowars — InfoWars founder Alex Jones speaks to the media outside Waterbury Superior Court during his trial in Waterbury, Conn., on Sept. 21, 2022. (Joe Buglewicz/Getty Images)

A Texas judge is weighing a new bid by the satirical news outlet The Onion to acquire the platforms of conservative commentator Alex Jones.

Jones founded the intellectual property Infowars in 1999.

However, due to defamation judgments connected to the 2012 Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, Infowars faces liquidation totalling more than $1 billion.

Judge Maya Guerra Gamble in Austin is considering a proposal submitted April 20, and if granted, The Onion would have an exclusive but temporary license to Free Speech Systems, which is the parent company of Infowars.

Under The Onion's plan, the outlet would be permitted to post its own content on the Infowars website and social media accounts.

The deal could become effective as soon as April 30, according to The Onion chief executive Ben Collins.

“The Onion has already hired people to run Infowars as a parody site including Tim Heidecker, one half of the comedy duo Tim and Eric known for their work on the Cartoon Network’s 'Adult Swim' shows,” he said.

Neither Jones nor The Onion responded to requests for comment by the time of publication.

The defamation judgments are owed to families of victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre because over the years, Jones repeatedly called the shooting a hoax staged by actors to build support for gun control.

A total of 20 children and six educators were killed in the shooting. Jones has since acknowledged that the shooting took place and was "100 percent real."

After trying to retract his statements, Jones said "[the media] won’t let me take it back."

In 2024, The Onion emerged as the winning bidder in a federal bankruptcy auction of the Infowars media company, but Jones sued to block the sale, and U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez rejected the auction sale, citing concerns about transparency in the auction.

In his pleading to prevent the acquisition, Jones asked Lopez to disqualify The Onion’s $1.75 million bid and instead recognize First United American Companies LLC—operator of his online nutritional supplement store—as the rightful winner of the auction with their bigger $3.5 million cash offer.

Jones also objected to The Onion’s intentions to repurpose Infowars to advocate for progressive causes like gun control, a stance diametrically opposed to his own and that of his audience.

“Jones is faced with the sale of his persona, including his name and Jones IP content, made available to a bidder that intends to use the persona and IP to mimic Jones, confuse Jones’ audiences as to the truth and source of this use, and otherwise gain an economic advantage by destroying Jones’ right to the exclusive use of his persona,” the complaint stated.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.