It was December 14, 2012, in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. A young man armed with a semi-automatic bursts into the town’s elementary school. He shoots 20 children and 6 staff members. One of the worst killings the country has ever known. At the time, Alex Jones was fed up. On the website, which allows him to spew out his propaganda, Infowarsthis figure of conspiracy in the United States explains that the grieving parents are actually actors, that the massacre is only a stage orchestrated by the government and opponents of firearms.
Alex Jones, an American conspirator, will have to pay $965 million to the relatives of the victims of the Sandy Hook school massacre, whom he accused of being actors.
Some have been harassed following his theories.
20 children and 6 adults died in this shooting in 2012. pic.twitter.com/u2eELk9z9h
— AJ+ French (@ajplusfrancais) October 13, 2022
The far-right activist will end up being banned from many social networks and publicly admitting the reality of the tragedy. But his conspiracy theory has spread and, for years, his fans will go so far as to harass families, threatening them with death or rape. Some even sent them messages threatening to defile and dig up the graves of the victims.
These families, who lodged a complaint, now obtain reparation: 965 million dollars very precisely for defamation and moral prejudice. It shows “that the internet is not the Wild West“, says a man whose wife was killed in Sandy Hook, “actions have consequencess”. “Just getting to a jury trial is a huge accomplishment, given the extreme measures Alex Jones took to try to avoid it.“, declared Alinor Sterling, a lawyer of the families relayed by the New York Times. Another lawyer, Chris Mattei, promises to do “to apply“this verdict”historical“.
What is not earned. Alex Jones, who still has his website (and officiates from Texas), allowed himself a live stream during the reading of the verdict. To say he wouldn’t give up. And as the judge recites the litany of convictions, while in the courtroom the families of Sandy Hook who have lost a child cry with their heads in their hands. Alex Jones comments and mocks”Come on, raise the prices“.
Alex Jones shouts “YEAH” and “WOOO” with a clenched fist, “Get those numbers up” as Sandy Hook families who lost a child cry as they listen to the reading of the verdict ordering Jones to pay $965 million in damages and interests. pic.twitter.com/rTSibYjp1P
— Philippe Berry (@ptiberry) October 12, 2022
“They covered up what really happened, and now I’m the devil“.”I’m actually proud to take this level of attack“.”You know what ?” he told his supporters. “We are not afraid and we are not going to stop. I can appeal. And with a few hundred thousand dollars, I can keep them for years in court. These billions that they are claiming, it’s a joke“.
The conspirator who ferociously defends the Second Amendment of the Constitution then encourages Internet users to donate, or buy the dietary supplements, survival equipment or accessories for firearms that he sells on his site and which – as much as his lies – helped build his fortune.
Alex Jones may have an empire (estimated in August by a forensic economist at a maximum of 270 million dollars), he does not have enough money to pay the sentence. And anyway he conveniently engineered his insolvency: he bankrupted his parent company, Free Speech Systems – which the families of the Sandy Hook victims have challenged in court as a maneuver to avoid paying damages.
He is a man who will not be silent. Alex Jones has played a part in spreading virtually every lie that has made headlines over the past decade, the Pizzagate (an alleged child trafficking organized by the Democrats in a pizzeria in Washington), the “great replacement theory” (which sparked deadly neo-Nazi violence in Charlottesville, Virginia), untruths about Covid and the 2020 presidential election.
Alex Jones Remember his staff *sources news from 8 CHAN? https://t.co/0dbSJTrZZM
— Molecule Magic (@BunnysonBurner) October 13, 2022
Alex Jones is now under intense scrutiny from the Justice Department and the House of Representatives Jan. 6 Committee for his role in events related to the Jan. 6 Capitol uprising, which he also broadcast live.
His unconditional support for former President Donald Trump, who appeared on his show when he was a Republican presidential candidate, moved Alex Jones from the extremist fringe to the center of Trump-era Republican politics.
In the same way that the Sandy Hook shootings changed nothing on the issue of gun control, today nearly 20% of Americans believe that high-profile mass shootings are “fake news” organized by the government. Partly because of him. His conviction will not change their beliefs. On the contrary. Like the principal concerned, who declared during the trial that these legal proceedings were an effort of the “deep stateto silence him.