Embattled talk show host Alex Jones received more bad news on Tuesday when the judge in his bankruptcy case announced he would approve the auction of his company, Free Speech Systems (FSS), which controls his Infowars platform.
Sandy Hook Trials
The proceeds from the auction will help fund the outrageous $1.5 billion settlement Jones was ordered to pay to the families of those killed in the Sandy Hook High School massacre after he was convicted by two civil juries of spreading “conspiracy theories” about the incident.
One of the theories concerned the use of “crisis actors” during the Sandy Hook shooting, which Jones claimed was used to push for gun control legislation to be passed. The jury also found Jones guilty of “defamation” and inflicting “emotional distress.”
Jones's assets
According to the Associated Press, U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez announced that the auction could begin as early as November, but he also said that the trustee overseeing Jones' personal bankruptcy has control of all of Free Speech Systems' assets. Jones owns the entire company, including the domain names, manufacturing facilities, online store and even the vitamins and supplements it sells.
“FSS is now up for auction, which means Alex Jones will no longer have any ownership or control over the company he built,” said Chris Mattei, an attorney for the Sandy Hook families. “This brings the families one step closer to their goal of holding Jones accountable for the harm he caused.”
Apparently, several anonymous parties have already expressed interest in acquiring Free Speech Systems, ranging from buyers who want to shut down the platform permanently to buyers who want to keep it going. Jones is in favor of the latter, having recently said on his show:
It is very clear that Free Speech Systems' assets, website, equipment, shopping cart, all are available for sale, and they are well aware that there are many patriotic buyers out there, which would ease the business.
Do speeches sell?
Jones vowed to continue speaking out in some way, whether that's through social media, as Tucker Carlson has done, or through a new website.
According to court documents, the sale could fetch about $8 million, a fraction of the amount Jones was ordered to pay.
Also at issue is the rights to Jones' official X-account, “RealAlexJones.” Jones currently has 2.8 million followers and may continue to speak on the platform. Jones' lawyers argue that the X-account remains the “exclusive property of Jones' natural person” and that selling it would violate his privacy rights and amount to involuntary servitude under the 13th Amendment.
Meanwhile, the Sandy Hook Elementary School families, particularly those who filed a lawsuit in Connecticut, want Jones to lose all of his social media accounts, as they suggest he may use them as a platform in the future, and they believe they are entitled to a portion of Jones' future earnings.
So far, lawyers for the Sandy Hook families have resisted the urge to try to sell Jones' social media presence, but they will likely demand it if they want compensation. This could lead to some interesting litigation over whether a person's words qualify as a commodity that can be sold like many knick-knacks.
Interestingly, Jones had almost no social media presence in 2018 in an attempt to silence him, and now his lawyers want to sell that presence to make money.
