American satirical news organisation The Onion has bought prominent conspiracy website Infowars at a bankruptcy auction, pledging to use the domain to raise awareness of gun violence prevention.
Infowars was founded by Alex Jones, who confirmed The Onion's acquisition but pledged to file legal challenges to stop it.
Jones owes more than US$1 billion ($1.5 billion) after being found in court to have defamed the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which he falsely claimed was a hoax.
The shooting occurred in the US state of Connecticut in 2012, and is one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history.
Relatives of many of the 20 children and six educators killed in the shooting sued Jones and his company for defamation and emotional distress for repeatedly saying on his show that the shooting was a hoax staged by crisis actors to spur more gun control.
Parents and children of many of the victims testified that they were traumatised by Jones' conspiracies and threats by his followers.
"The dissolution of Alex Jones' assets and the death of Infowars is the justice we have long awaited and fought for," Robbie Parker, whose daughter Emilie was killed in the 2012 shooting in Connecticut, said in a statement provided by his lawyers.
The Onion acquired the conspiracy theory platform's website, social media accounts, studio in Austin, Texas, trademarks and video archive. The sale price was not immediately disclosed.
The judge in Jones's bankruptcy ordered a hearing for next week after Jones and his lawyers raised questions about how the auction was conducted.
The Onion said its "exclusive launch advertiser" would be the gun violence prevention organisation Everytown for Gun Safety.
"Everytown will continue to raise awareness on InfoWars' channels about gun violence prevention and present actual solutions to our nation's gun violence crisis, including bipartisan, common sense measures and public safety initiatives backed by Everytown," The Onion said in a statement on Thursday, local time.
'Relentless barrage of disinformation' to be replaced by humour, Onion CEO says
Jones was broadcasting live from the Infowars studio when the sale was confirmed and appeared distraught, putting his head in his hand at his desk.
"Last broadcast now live from Infowars studios. They are in the building. Are ordering shutdown without court approval," Jones said on the social platform X.
After the sale, the Infowars website's top story was: "Red Alert! Watch the Final Moments As Media Empire Officially Shut Down Via Deep State Lawfare."
Among those who appeared on Jones's live stream immediately after the auction was Steve Bannon, who previously served as an advisor in the first Donald Trump administration.
Bannon urged Jones to continue broadcasting until he was forced off the air.
Within hours of the sale's announcement, Infowars' website was down and Jones was broadcasting from what he said was a new studio location.
The Onion's bid beat out a number of potential buyers, comprised of both supporters and detractors of Jones.
In a statement, The Onion chief executive Ben Collins said the organisation wanted to replace "Infowars' relentless barrage of disinformation" with the Onion's "relentless barrage of humour".
"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," he said.
The families of eight victims of the Sandy Hook school shooting backed the satire website's bid, saying it would put "an end to the misinformation machine".
The Onion promotes itself as "the world's leading news publication, offering highly acclaimed, universally revered coverage of breaking national, international, and local news events".
It claims to have 4.3 trillion daily readers.
Reuters/AP
