Alex Jones to pay $965 million USD for Sandy Hook defamation

Infowars founder and right-wing conspirator Alex Jones has been ordered to pay nearly $1 billion USD in damages to the families of Sandy Hook victims, after years of abuse and harassment from his followers.

Right wing conspirator and commentator Alex Jones has been ordered to pay $965 million USD to the families of Sandy Hook victims.

The verdict was read out on Wednesday in Waterbury, Connecticut, 20 miles from the site of the 2012 shooting where 20 children and six adults were killed. Families of eight victims and an FBI agent began a defamation trial originally seeking $550 million USD in damages.

Three weeks of proceedings included emotional testimony and detailed descriptions of harassment, abuse, and constant trolling from followers of Jones’ right-wing platform, Infowars.

In various videos and podcasts throughout the last decade, Jones has been adamant that the Sandy Hook shooting was fabricated. He described the parents of victims as ‘crisis actors’, claiming that some of them never existed at all. Jones also pushed that the tragedy was a stunt pulled by the government to encourage anti-gun laws.

Using circumstantial evidence, misleading video, and cherry-picked statistics, Jones fostered hostile and aggressive behaviour toward anyone associated with Sandy Hook. His platform is frequently used to validate extreme conspiracies and paranoia, promoting anti-LGBTQ sentiments and intense disdain for politicians.

Some of Jones’ rants and commentary have become well known memes. Lines such as ‘they’re turning the frogs gay’, ‘Hillary’s into creepy, weird, sick stuff, man’, and ‘kill the child, corrupt them all’ found popularity online outside of their original conspirator audience.

Jones’ hyperbolic demeanour and unhinged voiceovers made him largely a joke, but the ramifications of his constant misinformed content are very real for victims.

During the trial, parents detailed their experiences with online hate. Some stated they’d moved homes to ensure their safety, while one father claimed Jones’ supporters had urinated on his son’s grave.