Emerson Alum leads The Onion’s purchase of Infowars

By Merritt Hughes

Satirical news site The Onion will acquire Alex Jones’ Infowars, the conspiracy news site Jones had to auction off to help pay the more than $1 billion he owes to the families of Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting victims. Infowars had filed for bankruptcy in 2022, following Jones calling the Sandy Hook school shooting a “hoax.”

What led to this deal that ended with the Onion buying Infowars? Emerson alum Ben Collins. 

Collins graduated from Emerson with a degree in journalism in 2010. He was a Boston.com columnist, an editor at Hulu, Esquire Magazine, and The Daily Beast, and a senior reporter at NBC News, all before becoming CEO at The Onion in April 2024. 

When Collins saw that Infowars was up for auction, he knew he had to buy it to continue growing The Onion. Collins plans to revive Infowars into a parody of ClickHole, focusing on conspiracy theories and “health” supplements. 

“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,” said The Onion CEO. “Or Bitcoin. We will also accept Bitcoin.”

Jones has not taken the sale well, calling it “a total attack on free speech.” He has made claims that he will continue broadcasting on X after the loss of his website. 

While other bidders—like Jones’ “allies”—placed higher bids, the Onion won the auction due to the backing from the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims. The families “agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value of the Onion’s bid, enabling its success.”

The Onion plans to have their new website transition to new content by January 2025, according to a joint press release with Everytown for Gun Safety.