A Texas jury ordered Alex Jones, founder and host of Infowars, a cable news show, to pay $49 million in damages to the parents of a first grader killed at Sandy Hook Elementary School in 2012. Jones had repeated called the shooting at Sandy Hook a hoax.
Alex Jones, a conspiracy theorist, claimed that the Sandy Hook shooting was faked, concocted as an excuse to challenge gun rights. (Twenty children were killed at Sandy Hook, along with six teachers.) The father of a slain six-year-old described the “nine-and-a-half years of hell” he endured because of Jones. The parents described their decade of trauma, perpetrated first by the murder of their son, then by online threats, phone threats, and harassment on the street by followers of Jones and his Infowars program. Jones meanwhile portrayed the libel suit as an attack on his 1st Amendment right to free speech. During the trial, however, he conceded that the attacks were “100% real” and he was wrong to have lied about it. The judge held Jones legally responsible for inflicting emotional distress on the parents and liable for defaming them. While the parents had sought $150M in damages, they received roughly one-third that sum. Nevertheless, this was the first time Jones has been held financially accountable for his on-air comments.
This verdict resulted from comments made on television, but it could provide a precedent for the internet as well. Nations have struggled with how to police internet misinformation. The European Union passed laws holding tech companies accountable for misinformation shared on their platforms, but America has resisted such moves. Meanwhile, internet lies have killed people, ranging from those who were told that COVID 19 was not harmful to the Pizza-gate murder in Maryland. Civil suits may instill accountability—the “yelling fire in a crowded theater” reckoning needed to restore balance in communication.
Jones still faces two more defamation suites from other Sandy Hook parents. (Free Speech Systems, parent of Infowars, filed for bankruptcy despite Jones having made draws of $62M in 2021 and 2022.) As the family attorney said in her closing remarks, “Speech is free, but lies you have to pay for.”
Source:
Jim Vertuno, “Alex Jones Ordered to pay $49.3M in Total Damages Over False Sandy Hook Conspiracy Theories,” Associated Press, 5 Aug 2022, accessed from https://www.pbs.org/newshour/nation/alex-jones-ordered-to-pay-49-3m-in-total-damages-over-false-sandy-hook-conspiracy-theories
Oliver Darcy, “Jury Finds Alex Jones Caused $4 million in Damages to Two Sandy Hook Parents,” CNN Business, 5 Aug 2022, accessed from https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/media/alex-jones-trial-sandy-hook-decision/index.html
Photo: Infowars
No responses yet