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Title: In an outcome beyond parody, The Onion has bought Infowars

Date: Thu, 14 Nov 2024 17:17:01 +0000
Link: https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/in-an-...

When reality becomes stranger than satire, maybe the satirists can teach us
something. The Onion confirmed on Thursday that its parent company bought
Infowars, the disgraced purveyor of Sandy Hook misinformation and vendor of
pseudoscience supplements. The Onion posted on Bluesky that it plans to
transform the rebooted Infowars into ΓÇ£a very funny, very stupid website.ΓÇ¥

The Onion says it received the blessing of the families of the victims of the
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting to scoop up Infowars in a bankruptcy
auction. Everytown for Gun Safety, a nonprofit founded in the massacreΓÇÖs
aftermath, will reportedly advertise on the rebooted site. Infowars founder
Alex Jones was found liable in 2022 for nearly $1.5 billion in damages for
spreading conspiracy theories about the 2012 shooting that killed 20 children
and six adult staffers.

Elon Musk allowed Jones back on X (Twitter) last year after the platform
ΓÇ£permanentlyΓÇ¥ banned him in 2018 under its previous ownership.

As AmericaΓÇÖs chief satire publication (at least of those doing so
consciously), The OnionΓÇÖs announcement of the purchase stayed on brand. Its
tone, hinting at whatΓÇÖs to come, resembled The Colbert Report on steroids
(or maybe JonesΓÇÖ ΓÇ£Survival Shield X-2ΓÇ¥ pills).

ΓÇ£Founded in 1999 on the heels of the Satanic ΓÇÿpanicΓÇÖ and growing
steadily ever since, InfoWars has distinguished itself as an invaluable tool
for brainwashing and controlling the masses,ΓÇ¥ The Onion wrote in a truth-
meets-fiction announcement. ΓÇ£With a shrewd mix of delusional paranoia and
dubious anti-aging nutrition hacks, they strive to make life both scarier and
longer for everyone, a commendable goal. They are a true unicorn, capable of
simultaneously inspiring public support for billionaires and stoking outrage
at an inept federal state that can assassinate JFK but canΓÇÖt even put a man
on the Moon.ΓÇ¥

The Onion plans to rebrand Infowars as a parody of itself (more than it
already was), poking fun at ΓÇ£weird internet personalitiesΓÇ¥ like Jones,
according to The New York Times. Ben Collins, the CEO of The OnionΓÇÖs parent
company, Global Tetrahedron, hasnΓÇÖt said how much it paid to transform
InfowarsΓÇÖ destructive self-parody into constructive satire. (Collins
reported extensively on Infowars when covering misinformation at NBC News.)
He plans to launch the rebooted site in January.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at
https://www.engadget.com/entertainment/in-an-...
has-bought-infowars-171701601.html?src=rss

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