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The Onion has agreed to acquire InfoWars, the far-right web site created by conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, in a deal backed by families of victims from the shooting at Sandy Hook Elementary School.
The US satirical website on Thursday said that it had won the bankruptcy auction for the media business controlled by Jones, the controversial right-wing media influencer.
“The Onion is proud to acquire InfoWars, and we look forward to continuing its storied tradition of scaring the site’s users with lies until they fork over their cold, hard cash,” chief executive Ben Collins said. “Or Bitcoin. We will also accept Bitcoin.”
Jones was forced to file for bankruptcy after the families of victims at Sandy Hook successfully sued the media host for his repeated false claims that the 2012 Connecticut massacre, in which 20 children and six teachers were killed, was a hoax.