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The Onion buys Infowars

nytimes.com

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Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#771

Post by Nursie »

nemo44x wrote: post #757

Can anyone explain how InfoWars was sued and found guilty of free speech? There must be much more I’m not getting but although Jones sounds like an asshole I don’t think that’s illegal. Why can’t someone sell an opinion that a tragedy didn’t actually exist and was created to push an agenda? It could be a provably false claim but don’t they have the right to make it? Isn’t being despicable a basic right?

There is a ton of information out there about this. It goes beyond free speech to defamation, inciting harassment etc. Repeatedly calling grieving parents "Crisis Actors", publicly calling them liars over and over again, it turns out is not OK.

And then Jones/Infowars spectacularly failed to engage properly with the legal system, and the case went to default judgement.

https://apnews.com/article/shootings-school-connecticut-cons...

> Isn’t being despicable a basic right?

Personally I'm glad something could be done about it. He was profiting from causing further pain to people already going through something pretty unimaginable.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#772

Post by janniehater »

djfobbz wrote: post #770

I hate to burst everyone’s bubble, but this is fake news. This deal is not final. The judge in the liquidation case is holding an evidentiary hearing next week to understand how and why secret bidding was set up and why it was not open to the general public. Sounds like a BIG loss for The Onion, not to mention the potential defamation cases that could arise from news outlets publishing an unverified story about a sal…

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Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#774

Post by smrtinsert »

MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #625

In one sense this is funny, in another it's justice, but I think from a broader perspective this is just more of the same tit-for-tat nonsense that moves the needle in the wrong direction. My hypothesis is that the U.S. didn't become more divided because of moron sites like I.W. but rather because of our collective reaction to them. These groups are far easier to ignore when we stop trying to silence them.

It's like fighting mold in my opinion. Happy to turn the disinfectant on a particular area if we get that chance. It's poetically done here - the parents who were hurt the most were able to capture the source of that pain and turn it towards better purposes.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#775

Post by geor9e »

bogtog wrote: post #79

Really curious what the bidding was like or who else made an offer, since it seems that the Sandy Hook Victims (who own all of the debt?) wanted the sale to The Onion specifically

I wondered how the structure worked too. Technically the Sandy Hook Victims can buy Infowars. All the money they bid would just all come right back to themselves anyway. This article calls it a "joint bid".

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2024-11-14/the-onion...

Meanwhile, Alex Jones is calling a hearing next week to accuse the bid process of being rigged https://x.com/RealAlexJones/status/1857223561754059168

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#777

Post by MarcoZavala »

tecoholic wrote: post #683
MetaWhirledPeas wrote: post #625

In one sense this is funny, in another it's justice, but I think from a broader perspective this is just more of the same tit-for-tat nonsense that moves the needle in the wrong direction. My hypothesis is that the U.S. didn't become more divided because of moron sites like I.W. but rather because of our collective reaction to them. These groups are far easier to ignore when we stop trying to silence them.

I get the broader point of eye-for-an-eye.. but in this case how are people supposed to ignore when the harm done is very real and very cruel? These groups don’t want to operate in their own little corner of the world. They will up the ante until they gain notoriety and the attention they want, which enables them to make the money they want. The collective reaction is all but guaranteed, I would argue and it’s not be…

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Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#778

Post by tolerance »

fsckboy wrote: post #647

[flagged]

This is the only sensible take on this story and the response that it's getting fits accordingly.

> It's ironic that they don't get that "if you don't get Alex Jones, you are the joke" but it's not mean, we're just laughing

But this is the point where I have to suggest to you that perhaps The Onion is In on The Joke with Jones and this is when this whole thing becomes a meta-ironic performance.

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#779

Post by aredox »

itsoktocry wrote: post #769
sjsdaiuasgdia wrote: post #432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Since Musk's acquisition of Twitter, it has increasingly become a right wing echo chamber and place to promote conspiracy theories. And Alex Jones' InfoWars and Elon Musk's Twitter are both likely to show you advertisements for supplements of dubious effectiveness and other generally scammy products. So yeah, Jones fits right in there.

You realize old Twitter was literally censoring things they knew to be true but politically damaging, right? Or are you still operating in 2022? Twitter is right wing because your country (and the world) are shifting right. Sorry.

You realise new twitter is literally censoring things that are a mild inconvenience to the Boss - who happens to be the new President-for-life buddy?

Re: The Onion buys Infowars

#780

Post by mionhe »

labster wrote: post #597
tptacek wrote: post #508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The constitution lays out slander and libel as types of speech that can be censored I don't think defamation law is unconstitutional, but, no it doesn't.

The US courts have ruled that there are time, place, and manner limits on freedom of speech.

Yes. But as he didn't overtly call for violence against anyone here, it doesn't apply.
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