For years, the ultra-right radio presenter has polarized and reached an audience of millions with his lies. Even former President Donald Trump was a regular guest on his shows.
At the court hearings, such as here on September 20, 2022, Alex Jones appeared in court. However, he stayed away from the verdict.
26 people were killed in the Sandy Hooks Elementary School massacre in the city of Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. A gunman shot dead 20 children and 6 adults and then took his own life. The pictures went around the world, the consternation was great. One man, however, publicly doubted that the massacre actually happened: Alex Jones.
For years, the ultra-right 48-year-old radio presenter claimed on his news portal “Infowars” and in his multi-hour program that the killing spree was staged. The survivors, responders and victims are all paid actors and are only used to provide an excuse for tightening gun laws in the United States.
Jones’ followers found these claims with receptive ears. They stalked, filmed and confronted those affected, expecting the mourners to provide evidence that their loved ones had actually been killed. Some had themselves been threatened with death.
Eight victims’ families and an FBI agent have filed a lawsuit against Jones for inciting and spreading untrue allegations. After a process lasting several weeks, the plaintiffs were now right on Wednesday. A Connecticut jury fined Jones $965 million for spreading false allegations. A lawyer for the plaintiffs originally demanded at least $500 million. The jury nearly doubled that demand.
Unlikely that Jones can pay the fine
Jones and his entourage were according to the New York Times flew from Texas to Connecticut on a private jet, but he himself was not present in the courtroom for the sentencing. While the decision was being read, Jones broadcast his “Infowars” program live from a nearby villa. He taunted the verdict and called on his supporters to donate money.
Wednesday’s verdict is the toughest sentence against Jones to date. However, a precedent was already set in August. A jury in Austin, Texas, sentenced Jones in two verdicts to pay nearly $50 million in damages. There, too, the parents of a boy who had been killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School had sued. At the time, Jones admitted the massacre was “100 percent true.” It was crazy to say otherwise.
Emotional scenes in court. Relatives of the victims burst into tears several times during the trial.
As in August, the verdict on Wednesday is a so-called punitive damages. This is sometimes intended as a deterrent and is usually significantly higher than the actual compensation. It is therefore practically impossible for the victims’ relatives to receive more than 900 million dollars. Also because Jones does not have such a large fortune.
On Wednesday’s show, Jones said there was no money. He filed for bankruptcy for himself and his company “Infowars” in Texas in April, but the news portal continues to broadcast. A bankruptcy trustee estimated the company’s value at the time at $270 million. However, Jones disputes this number.
Jones serves an audience of millions
But he undoubtedly makes a lot of money with his performances and radio programs. In it he spreads conspiracy theories that appeal to an audience of millions in right-wing extremist circles. His radio show has been broadcast on more than 200 local radio stations and his videos have been viewed over a billion times on YouTube. With his confused theories, he influences many. This also earned him inglorious titles. The American magazine “Rolling Stone” once called Jones the “biggest paranoid in America” and the news channel CNN called him “the king of conspiracy theories”.
There is a reason for this: in his radio show, Jones reported that the American government was involved in the attacks of September 11, 2001 and that climate change is a myth. In his opinion, numerous other killing sprees and the attack on the Boston Marathon were simply staged. Usually some conspiratorial “globalist powers” are behind it.
Relatives mourn outside Sandy Hook Elementary School shortly after the December 14, 2012 massacre in which 26 people lost their lives.
Jones regularly received prominent support from former President Donald Trump. This spread Jones posts on Twitter and also appeared several times in his programs. In return, after the 2020 presidential election, Jones had incessantly spread Trump’s lies about alleged voter fraud on his shows and called for the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
In addition to its information formats, Jones has also built up a very lucrative online distribution business. Among other things, he sells survival equipment and nutritional supplements under the “Free Speech Systems” brand. According to his own statements, he allegedly earns up to ten million dollars a year with this. There is also income from public appearances and financially very lucrative book contracts.
Another process is yet to come
However, Jones will not be able to rest on his laurels with his followers. For now, Jones remains embroiled in legal wrangling. Because Wednesday’s verdict does not end the chapter on his claims about the Sandy Hook massacre. The radio host faces a third libel trial this fall for “persistently spreading a monstrous, unspeakable lie,” according to an indictment. There, too, he faces a heavy fine. It would be the fourth lawsuit this year.
That the processes mean the end of Jones and his conspiracy theories is unlikely, commented Mick Mulvaney, Donald Trump’s former chief of staff, on Wednesday evening as an expert at the BBC. Financially, the radio man will probably go badly. But in terms of his media influence, at least among his followers, Jones probably gets a lot more attention. There will hardly be a moderate, calm Alex Jones. Rather, he will continue to spread his theories and views, Mulvaney said. “He’ll rage.”