Did Musk have anything to do with Alex Jones’ victory over The Onion?

Alex Jones is rejoicing after The Onion’s bid for his media platform was rejected by a federal bankruptcy judge. Yet, the satirical media outlet vows to pursue purchasing InfoWars.

“We are still in the InfoWars studios, surviving since May 31st,” said Alex Jones on his X show.

Jones explains that there have been three separate attempts to shut down InfoWars, but, “by the grace of God,” the platform is still standing.

The far-right conspiracist gets to keep hold of InfoWars for the time being as a bankruptcy judge denied The Onion’s bid, saying that it devalued the platform.

According to Mashable, The Onion, owned by Global Tetrahedron, bid approximately $1.7 million in cash and added a noncash component to the bid that brought it somewhere close to $7 million.

However, US bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez said that this was not nearly enough and InfoWars could receive a bigger payout.

Ben Collins, the chief executive of Global Tetrahedron, the owners of The Onion, told the New York Times that they’re “deeply disappointed” by the decision but will continue to pursue the path of purchasing InfoWars for those affected by the Sandy Hook tragedy.

What happened?

The satirical news outlet The Onion placed a bid on conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ media empire, which includes the InfoWars website, its social media accounts, and much more related to his company, Free Speech Systems.

This came after Jones was sued by the families and survivors of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting for saying that the tragic event was a hoax.

Yet, his theory backfired after families affected by the shooting successfully sued Jones for defamation, to which he now owes more than $1 billion.

The defamation lawsuit forced Jones into bankruptcy, meaning his assets were set to be liquidated, and his company was up for auction.

After The Onion’s bid was officially rejected, Jones declared the auction a fraudulent scam.

Musk’s involvement

While it's unclear whether Elon Musk indirectly helped Jones hold onto InfoWars, he issued a court filing just after the bid went on hold.

Musk filed an objection to the sale, assignment, or transfer of the Infowars X account and other accounts associated with Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems.

This is because accounts on X are “governed by the X Terms of Service, which supposedly means that X users don’t actually own their accounts as they are X’s “exclusive property.”

X also claims that accounts can’t be transferred or bought by third parties.

Therefore (according to Musk’s platform), The Onion can’t purchase these accounts because they are not owned by Jones or his bankrupt estate.

However, it’s unlikely that Musk’s legal filing helped Jones keep hold of InfoWars.