Jump to content

InfoWars

Page extended-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
(Redirected from Free Speech Systems LLC)

InfoWars
Type of site
Available inEnglish
OwnerFree Speech Systems, LLC
URLinfowars.com
RegistrationNone
LaunchedMarch 6, 1999; 25 years ago (1999-03-06)[4]
Current statusActive

InfoWars is an American far-right[2] conspiracy theory[3] and fake news website[1] created by Alex Jones.[36][37] It was founded in 1999, and operated under Free Speech Systems LLC.

Talk shows and other content for the site were created primarily in studios at an undisclosed location in an industrial area in the outskirts of Austin, Texas.[38] Reports in 2017 stated that the InfoWars website received approximately 10 million monthly visits, making its reach greater than some mainstream news websites such as The Economist and Newsweek at the time.[39][40] The site regularly published fake stories linked to harassment of victims.[47] In February 2018, Jones, the publisher, director and owner of InfoWars, was accused of discrimination and sexual harassment of employees.[48] InfoWars, and in particular Jones, advocated numerous conspiracy theories, particularly around purported domestic false flag operations by the U.S. government (which they allege include the 9/11 attack and Sandy Hook shooting). InfoWars issued retractions various times as a result of legal challenges.[43][44] Jones has had contentious material removed, and has also been suspended and banned from many platforms for violating their terms of service, including Facebook,[49] Twitter,[50] YouTube,[51] iTunes,[52] and Roku.[53]

InfoWars earned most of its revenue from direct sales of products pitched by Jones, which initially consisted of videos and later included survivalist products and branded merchandise, but shifted primarily to dietary supplements by the late 2010s.[54][55][56] Jones also staged direct-donation telethons called "money bombs" although InfoWars was not a nonprofit organization.[57]

On July 30, 2022, amidst a $150 million lawsuit brought against Jones and InfoWars by Sandy Hook families, Free Speech Systems filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.[58] On September 24, 2024, a Houston bankruptcy judge ordered the liquidation of InfoWars and Free Speech Systems at two auctions to be held later that year.[59][60] On November 14, it was announced that Global Tetrahedron—publishers of the news satire publication The Onion—had acquired the assets of InfoWars, with plans to temporarily shut it down and relaunch it in 2025 as a satirical news website; however, the original website was restored by Jones the next day after his lawyers alleged irregularities in the auction, and the bankruptcy judge put the sale on hold.

History

Alex Jones with Paul Joseph Watson in 2013

InfoWars was created in 1999 by American conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.[61][62] Founded by Jones with his then-wife Kelly, it was originally a mail-order outlet for the conspiracy-oriented videos produced by the Joneses.[63] InfoWars features The Alex Jones Show on their broadcasts and was established as a public-access television program aired in Austin, Texas in 1999.[61]

During the 2016 presidential election, the website was promoted by bots connected to the Russian government.[64] A 2017 study by the Berkman Klein Center for Internet & Society at Harvard University found that InfoWars was the 13th most shared source by supporters of Donald Trump on Twitter during the election.[65][66]

In 2016, Paul Joseph Watson was hired as editor-at-large.[67][68] In February 2017, political commentator Jerome Corsi was hired as Washington bureau chief,[69] after InfoWars was granted a White House day pass.[70] In June 2018, Corsi's connection to InfoWars ended; he received six months of severance payments.[71]

In May 2017, Mike Cernovich joined the InfoWars team as a scheduled guest host for The Alex Jones Show,[72] with CNN reporting the "elevation to InfoWars host represents the meteoric rise in his profile".[73] On July 6, 2017, alongside Paul Joseph Watson, Jones began hosting a contest to create the best "CNN Meme", for which the winner would receive $20,000. They were responding to CNN reporting on a Reddit user who had created a pro-Trump, anti-CNN meme.[74][75]

In June 2017, it was announced that Roger Stone, a former campaign advisor for Donald Trump, would be hosting his own InfoWars show "five nights a week", with an extra studio being built to accommodate his show.[37]

In March 2018, a number of major brands in the U.S. suspended their ads from InfoWars's YouTube channels, after CNN notified them that their ads were running adjacent to InfoWars content.[76]

In July 2018, YouTube removed four of InfoWars's uploaded videos that violated its policy against hate speech and suspended posts for 90 days. Facebook also banned Jones after it determined four videos on his pages violated its community standards in July 2018.[51][49] In August 2018, YouTube, Apple and Facebook removed content from Jones and InfoWars, citing their policies against hate speech and harassment.[52]

In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organizations, InfoWars was ranked the second least trusted news organization by Americans, with The Daily Caller being lower-ranked.[77]

On March 12, 2020, Attorney General of New York Letitia James issued a cease and desist letter to Jones concerning InfoWars's sale of unapproved products that the website falsely asserted to be government-approved treatments for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19).[78] On April 9, the FDA ordered InfoWars to discontinue the sale of a number of products marketed as remedies for COVID-19 in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act, including toothpaste, liquids, and gels containing colloidal silver.[79][80]

Claims of sexual harassment and antisemitism

In 2017, Haaretz reported that InfoWars had accused Israel of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, accused the Rothschilds of promoting "endless war, debt slavery and a Luciferian agenda", and claimed that U.S. healthcare was under the control of a "Jewish mafia".[81]

In February 2018, Jones was accused by two former employees of antisemitism, anti-black racism and sexual harassment of both male and female staff members. He denied the allegations.[82][83][84]

Two former employees filed complaints against Jones with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.[85]

Removals from other websites

On July 27, 2018, Facebook suspended Alex Jones's official page for thirty days, claiming Jones had participated in hate speech against Robert Mueller.[86] This was swiftly followed by action from other bodies—on August 6, Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify all removed content by Alex Jones and InfoWars from their platforms for violating their policies. YouTube removed channels associated with Infowars, including The Alex Jones Channel, which had gained 2.4 million subscriptions prior to its removal.[87] On Facebook, four pages associated with InfoWars and Alex Jones were removed due to repeated violations of the website's policies. Apple removed all podcasts associated with Jones from its iTunes platform and its podcast app.[52] On August 13, Vimeo removed all Jones's videos because they "violated our terms of service prohibitions on discriminatory and hateful content".[88] By February 2019, a total of 89 pages associated with InfoWars or Alex Jones had been removed from Facebook due to its recidivism policy, which is designed to prevent circumventing a ban.[89] In May 2019, President Donald Trump tweeted or retweeted defenses of people associated with InfoWars, including editor Paul Joseph Watson and host Alex Jones, after the Facebook ban.[90]

Jones's accounts have also been removed from Pinterest,[91] Mailchimp,[92] LinkedIn,[93] and Instagram.[94] The Wikipedia community deprecated and blacklisted InfoWars as a source by snowball clause consensus in 2018, determining that InfoWars is a "conspiracy theorist and fake news website".[95]

Beginning in September 2018, Jones and InfoWars were both suspended from Twitter and Periscope, a Twitter subsidiary. This followed Jones tweeting a Periscope video calling on others "to get their battle rifles ready against antifa, the mainstream media, and Chicom operatives".[96] In the video he also stated, "Now is time to act on the enemy before they do a false flag." Twitter cited this as the reason to suspend his account for a week on August 14.[97] On September 6, Twitter permanently banned InfoWars and temporarily banned Alex Jones for repeated violations of the site's terms and conditions. Twitter cited abusive behavior, namely a video that "shows Jones shouting at and berating CNN journalist Oliver Darcy for some 10 minutes during congressional hearings about social media."[50] Jones's ban from the platform was overturned by Elon Musk in December 2023, after the latter's acquisition of the site and subsequent rebranding as X.[98]

On September 7, 2018, the InfoWars app was removed from the Apple App Store.[99] On September 20, 2018, PayPal informed InfoWars they would cease processing payments in ten days because "promotion of hate and discrimination runs counter to our core value of inclusion."[100] On May 2, 2019, Facebook and Instagram banned Jones and InfoWars as part of a larger ban of far-right extremists. The ban covered videos, audio clips, and articles from InfoWars, but excluded criticism of InfoWars. Facebook indicated it would take down groups that violated the ban.[101] The InfoWars app was pulled from Google Play on March 27, 2020, for violating its policies on spreading "misleading or harmful disinformation", after Jones opposed efforts to contain COVID-19 and said "natural antivirals" could treat the disease.[102]

In March 2023, the Southern Poverty Law Center reported on Jones' leaked texts from his Sandy Hook defamation trial. The texts revealed that Jones and his collaborators had been trying to evade social media bans of InfoWars content by setting up alternate websites such as National File to disguise its origin.[103][104]

Bankruptcy and proposed acquisition

In April 2022, it became known the company behind InfoWars had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, as had Infowars Health (or IWHealth), against further civil litigation lawsuits.[105] The court filings estimated InfoWars assets at between $0–$50,000, but its liabilities (including from the damages awarded against Jones in defamation suits) was estimated as being between $1 million to $10 million.[106]

On June 23, 2024, Jones' court-appointed bankruptcy trustee Christopher Murray filed an "emergency" motion in a Houston court indicating his intention to shut down InfoWars.[107][108] According to the motion, Murray made plans to "conduct an orderly wind-down" of the operations of Free Speech Systems, InfoWars’ parent company, and also "liquidate its inventory", but he did not announce a timetable; on his radio show, Jones had said that he expects InfoWars to operate for a few more months, or to be sold to another party that may retain him as an employee.[107] Murray also asked the bankruptcy court to put a hold on the Sandy Hook families' attempts to collect their settlements from Jones, saying that their efforts would interfere with the liquidation; much of its proceeds would ultimately go to the families, Murray said.[107] On September 24, bankruptcy judge Christopher Lopez approved the liquidation of InfoWars' and Free Speech Systems' assets. Auctions would be held on November 13 and December 10; no limits were to be imposed on who may bid for the company's intellectual property and other assets.[59][60][109]

Logo of InfoWars after its acquisition by Global Tetrahedron.
Website as it appeared on November 14, 2024, reading "Site unavailable till further notice."

On November 14, Global Tetrahedron—publisher of the satirical newspaper The Onion—announced that it had bought InfoWars' intellectual property assets in the auction, with the site afterwards shut down, to be relaunched in January 2025 as a satire written by Onion staff. CEO Ben Collins stated that the new site would be "very funny" and "very stupid", and cited Bluesky users who suggested that it would be funny for The Onion to acquire InfoWars. Global Tetrahedron had offered $1.75 million in cash, plus credit from families of the Sandy Hook shootings who had "agreed to forgo a portion of their recovery to increase the overall value", which it claimed brought its bid close to $7 million. The gun control advocacy group Everytown for Gun Safety was to have an "exclusive" advertising deal upon the relaunch. Jones responded to the sale in a live stream on X (formerly Twitter), stating that it was "a distinct honor to be here in defiance of the tyrants", and that "I don't know what's going to happen, but I'm going to be here until they come in there and turn the lights off. I'm going to say, 'where's your court order?'"[110][111]

Hours after Global Tetrahedron's announcement, Jones's lawyers said that the auction had been conducted improperly, and Judge Lopez put a hold on the sale pending a hearing to be held the following week.[112][113][114] Murray also received a $3.5 million cash offer from Jones-affiliated First United American Companies; although its cash value was less, the Global Tetrahedron offer was better for Jones's other creditors because Sandy Hook families would partially forgo payments, but this made the offer difficult to precisely valuate.[113][114] Full terms of the offer were not publicly disclosed.[114] Jones's lawyers said that Murray acted improperly in accepting the offer, saying that the two offers were difficult to directly compare. Additionally, Lopez indicated that he had expected bidders to be able to counterbid, although his September order gave Murray the authority to conduct a sealed-bid auction at Murray's sole discretion.[113] Jones's lawyers said that Murray had scheduled a public bid period but abruptly canceled it after the initial sealed bids had been submitted.[114]

The original website was restored on the morning of November 15 by Jones, who told viewers that Murray had improperly shut it down before the sale was finalized, and posted on X the next day that the sale "never happened".[113][114] On November 18, Jones sued Murray and some Sandy Hook families, accusing them of colluding to arrange the acceptance of a "flagrantly non-compliant Frankenstein bid" and asking the judge to halt the sale.[115]

Content

Promotion of conspiracy theories and fake news

InfoWars disseminated multiple conspiracy theories, including false claims against the HPV vaccine[41] and claims the 2017 Las Vegas shooting was part of a conspiracy.[116] In 2015, skeptic Brian Dunning listed it at #4 on a "Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites" list.[117]

InfoWars advocated New World Order conspiracy theories, 9/11 conspiracy theories, the chemtrail conspiracy theory, conspiracy theories involving Bill Gates, supposed covert government weather control programs, claims of rampant domestic false flag operations by the US Government (including 9/11), and the unsupported claim that millions voted illegally in the 2016 US presidential election.[118][119] Jones frequently used InfoWars to assert that mass shootings are conspiracies or "false flag" operations; these false claims are often subsequently spread by other fake news outlets and on social media.[120][121] This has been characterized as Second Amendment "fan fiction".[122]

Infowars has published and promoted fake news,[45] and Jones has been accused of knowingly misleading people to make money.[123] In the summer of 2015, video editor Josh Owens and reporter Joe Biggs took a video of workers loading cargo in Texas. They claimed the men were drug smugglers; the Drudge Report picked up their headline, and Donald Trump used it in a campaign speech. Owens admitted years later: "It's not about truth, it's not about accuracy — it's about what's going to make people click on this video...In essence, we lied." (Biggs was later indicted for seditious conspiracy for his role with the Proud Boys in the January 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.)[124] As part of the probe by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) into Russian interference in the 2016 United States elections, InfoWars was investigated to see if it was complicit in the dissemination of fake news stories distributed by Russian bots.[125]

From May 2014 to November 2017, InfoWars republished articles from multiple sources without permission, including over 1,000 from Russian state-sponsored news network RT, as well as stories from news outlets such as CNN, the BBC, and The New York Times which Salon said were "dwarfed" by those from RT.[126][127]

A 2020 study by researchers from Northeastern, Harvard, Northwestern and Rutgers universities found that InfoWars was among the top 5 most shared fake news domains in tweets related to COVID-19, the others being The Gateway Pundit, WorldNetDaily, Judicial Watch and Natural News.[35]

Claims of false flag school shootings

InfoWars regularly claimed, without evidence, that mass shootings were staged "false flag" operations, and accused survivors of such events of being crisis actors employed by the United States government. InfoWars host Alex Jones promoted the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting conspiracy theories, claiming that the massacre of twenty elementary school students and six staff members was "completely fake" and "manufactured," a stance for which Jones was heavily criticized.[42] In March 2018, six families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, as well as an FBI agent who responded to the attack, filed a defamation lawsuit against Jones for his role in spreading conspiracy theories about the shooting.[128] In December 2019, InfoWars and Jones were ordered to pay $100,000 in legal fees prior to the trial for another defamation lawsuit from a different family whose son was killed in the shooting.[129][130] In a June 2022 agreement, the families agreed to drop their Texas and Connecticut defamation cases against Infowars, Prison Planet TV and IW Health, and in return, those companies would no longer pursue their Texas case for bankruptcy protection. The agreement did not end the separate defamation cases against Alex Jones and Free Speech Systems.[131]

Jones also accused David Hogg and other survivors of the Stoneman Douglas High School shooting of being crisis actors.[132]

Pizzagate conspiracy theory

InfoWars promoted fabricated Pizzagate claims. The fake claims led to harassment of the owner and employees of Comet Ping Pong, a Washington, D.C. pizzeria targeted by the conspiracy theories, including threatening phone calls, online harassment, and death threats. The owner sent a letter to Jones in February 2017 demanding a retraction or apology. (Such a letter is required before a party may seek punitive damages in an action for libel under Texas law).[133]

After receiving the letter, Jones said, "I want our viewers and listeners to know that we regret any negative impact our commentaries may have had on Mr. Alefantis, Comet Ping Pong, or its employees. We apologize to the extent our commentaries could be construed as negative statements about Mr. Alefantis or Comet Ping Pong, and we hope that anyone else involved in commenting on Pizzagate will do the same thing." InfoWars also issued a correction on its website.[134]

InfoWars reporter Owen Shroyer also targeted East Side Pies, a group of pizza restaurants in Austin, Texas, with similar fake "Pizzagate" claims. Following the claims, the pizza business was targeted by phone threats, vandalism, and harassment, which the co-owners called "alarming, disappointing, disconcerting and scary".[46]

Chobani retraction

In 2017, InfoWars (along with similar sites) published a fake story about U.S. yogurt manufacturer Chobani, with headlines including "Idaho yogurt maker caught importing migrant rapists" and "allegations that Chobani's practice of hiring refugees brought crime and tuberculosis to Twin Falls". Chobani ultimately filed a federal lawsuit against Jones,[135] which led to a settlement on confidential terms in May 2017. Jones offered an apology and retraction, admitting he had made "certain statements" on InfoWars "that I now understand to be wrong".[43][44]

Seth Rich retraction

In 2019, Jerome Corsi and InfoWars apologized and retracted a story promoting conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich. The retraction was published on the front page of InfoWars, where Corsi said that "his allegations were not based upon any independent factual knowledge." Corsi said that he retracted the story because it relied on information that The Washington Times had retracted, but still thought that investigators should look into whether Seth Rich played a role.[136][137]

Businesses

While Jones stated, "I'm not a business guy, I'm a revolutionary", he spent much of InfoWars's air time pitching dietary supplements and survivalist products to his audience. As a private firm, InfoWars and its affiliated limited liability companies were not required to make public financial statements; as a result, observers could only estimate its revenue and profits.[55]

Prior to 2013, Jones focused on building a "media empire".[56] By 2013, Alex Seitz-Wald of Salon estimated that Jones was earning as much as $10 million a year between subscriptions, web and radio advertising, and sales of DVDs, T-shirts, and other merchandise.[54] That year, Jones changed his business model to incorporate selling proprietary dietary supplements, including one that promised to "supercharge" cognitive functions.[56]

Unlike most talk radio shows, InfoWars itself did not directly generate income, as it did not receive syndication fees from its syndicator GCN nor a cut of GCN's advertising, and it did not sell its own advertising time. By 2017, the show had ceased promoting its video service (though it still existed), and InfoWars did not make any documentary films after 2012; virtually all of its revenue was being generated by selling Jones's dietary supplements to viewers and listeners through the site's online store.[56]

In 2017, the supplements sold on the InfoWars store were primarily sourced from Dr. Edward F. Group III, a chiropractor who founded the Global Healing Center supplement vendor.[56] A significant portion of InfoWars's products contain colloidal silver, which Jones falsely claimed "kills every virus", including "the whole SARS-corona family"; this claim was disputed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).[138]

A lesser source of revenue for InfoWars was its "money bomb" telethons, which resembled public radio fundraisers, except InfoWars was a for-profit institution. According to former InfoWars employees, a money bomb could raise $100,000 in a day.[57]

In 2014, Jones claimed that InfoWars was accumulating over $20 million in annual revenue. The New York Times attributed most of the revenue to sales of supplements, including "Super Male Vitality" and "Brain Force Plus", which InfoWars purported would increase testosterone and mental agility, respectively.[55] Court documents in 2014 indicate that InfoWars was successful enough for Jones and his then-wife to be planning to "build a swimming pool complex ... featuring a waterfall and dining cabana with a stone fireplace". The documents also listed Jones's possessions, including four Rolex watches, a $40,000 saltwater aquarium, a $70,000 grand piano, $50,000 in weapons, and $70,000 in jewelry.[55]

After InfoWars was banned by Facebook, YouTube, Apple, Spotify, and Pinterest, Jones appealed to viewers, "The enemy wants to cut off our funding to destroy us. If you don't fund us, we'll be shut down."[55]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b [7][22][24][29][30][31][32][33][34][35]
  2. ^ a b [5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18]
  3. ^ a b [5][6][7][11][12][14][19][20][21][22][23][24][25][26][27][28]
  4. ^ "InfoWars.com WHOIS, DNS, & Domain Info–DomainTools". WHOIS. Archived from the original on May 2, 2019. Retrieved March 16, 2018.
  5. ^ a b Kaiser, Jonas; Rauchfleisch, Adrian; Bourassa, Nikki (March 15, 2020). "Connecting the (Far-)Right Dots: A Topic Modeling and Hyperlink Analysis of (Far-)Right Media Coverage during the US Elections 2016". Digital Journalism. 8 (3). Taylor & Francis: 2, 6. doi:10.1080/21670811.2019.1682629. ISSN 2167-0811. S2CID 211434599.
  6. ^ a b Chong, Miyoung (January 1, 2019). "Discovering fake news embedded in the opposing hashtag activism networks on Twitter: #Gunreformnow vs. #NRA". Open Information Science. 3 (1). De Gruyter: 147, 150. doi:10.1515/opis-2019-0010.
  7. ^ a b c Zeng, Jing; Schäfer, Mike S. (October 21, 2021). "Conceptualizing "Dark Platforms". Covid-19-Related Conspiracy Theories on 8kun and Gab". Digital Journalism. 9 (9). Routledge: 1321–1343. doi:10.1080/21670811.2021.1938165. In contrast, Gab users who shared more far-right "fake news" websites are relatively more visible on Gab. Some of the most cited sources under this category include the Unhived Mind (N = 2,729), Epoch Times (N = 1,303), Natural News (N = 1,301), Breitbart (N = 769), the Gateway Pundit (N = 422), and InfoWars (N = 656).
  8. ^ Guglielmi, Giorgia (October 28, 2020). "The next-generation bots interfering with the US election". Nature. 587 (7832): 21. Bibcode:2020Natur.587...21G. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-03034-5. PMID 33116324. S2CID 226052075.
  9. ^ Duvall, Spring-Serenity (July 2020). "Too Famous to Protest: Far-Right Online Community Bonding Over Collective Desecration of Colin Kaepernick, Fame, and Celebrity Activism". Journal of Communication Inquiry. 44 (3). SAGE Publishing: 256–278. doi:10.1177/0196859920911650. S2CID 216264888.
  10. ^ Mudde, Cas (October 25, 2019). The Far Right Today. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-5095-3685-6. Archived from the original on October 28, 2020. Retrieved October 10, 2020.
  11. ^ a b Kaiser, Jonas (September 17, 2019). "In the heartland of climate scepticism: A hyperlink network analysis of German climate sceptics and the US right wing". In Forchtner, Bernard (ed.). The Far Right and the Environment: Politics, Discourse and Communication. Routledge. p. 258. ISBN 978-1-351-10402-9.
  12. ^ a b Oppenheim, Maya (March 4, 2018). "Dozens of leading brands pull ads from far right conspiracy site InfoWars' YouTube channel". The Independent. Archived from the original on July 8, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  13. ^ Hafner, Josh (May 24, 2018). "Sandy Hook families suing Alex Jones aren't the only ones to threaten conspiracy theorist". USA Today. Archived from the original on September 29, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  14. ^ a b Murphy, Paul P. (March 3, 2018). "Advertisers flee InfoWars founder Alex Jones' YouTube channel". CNN Business. Archived from the original on June 13, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  15. ^ Lima, Cristiano (March 13, 2018). "InfoWars, Alex Jones sued for defamation over Charlottesville claims". Politico. Archived from the original on August 7, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  16. ^ Eagan, Margery (June 4, 2018). "Families of Sandy Hook victims could force Alex Jones to admit his outrageous lie". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 26, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  17. ^ Kelly, Erin (July 17, 2018). "Republicans press social media giants on anti-conservative 'bias' that Dems call 'nonsense'". USA Today. Archived from the original on March 29, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  18. ^ Morrin, Siobhan (May 29, 2018). "Why Tommy Robinson Was Jailed, and Why U.S. Rightwingers Care". Time. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  19. ^ Van den Bulck, H; Hyzen, A (February 2020). "Of lizards and ideological entrepreneurs: Alex Jones and Infowars in the relationship between populist nationalism and the post-global media ecology". International Communication Gazette. 82 (1). SAGE Publishing: 42–59. doi:10.1177/1748048519880726. S2CID 210356506.
  20. ^ Rehman, Iskander (October 2, 2017). "Rise of the Reactionaries: The American Far Right and U.S. Foreign Policy". The Washington Quarterly. 40 (4). Taylor & Francis: 33. doi:10.1080/0163660X.2017.1406706. S2CID 158799930.
  21. ^ Winter, Aaron (2019). "Online Hate: From the Far-Right to the 'Alt-Right' and from the Margins to the Mainstream" (PDF). Online Othering. Springer International Publishing. pp. 39–63. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-12633-9_2. ISBN 978-3-030-12632-2. S2CID 159264406. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2020 – via ResearchGate.
  22. ^ a b "Trump slams tech firms at 'free speech' social media summit". Deutsche Welle. December 7, 2019. Archived from the original on October 9, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  23. ^ Shantz, Jeff (2016). Manufacturing Phobias: The Political Production of Fear in Theory and Practice. University of Toronto Press. p. 231. ISBN 978-1-4426-2884-7. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2020 – via Google Books.
  24. ^ a b Downing, Joseph; Dron, Richard (June 13, 2018). "Grenfell Tower: how Twitter users fought off fake news to honour Muslim heroes". The Conversation. Archived from the original on June 26, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  25. ^ Ng, Alfred; Solsman, Joan E. (July 18, 2018). "Facebook would rather shush false news than shut it off completely". CNET. Archived from the original on August 15, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  26. ^ "Google Play Store kicks out right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' InfoWars app". Deccan Chronicle. March 29, 2020. Archived from the original on June 25, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  27. ^ Sacks, Brianna (December 12, 2019). "The Infowars News Director Said He's "Proud" The Site Called The Sandy Hook Shooting A Hoax". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  28. ^ Wilhelm, Heather (December 15, 2017). "The Lost Art of Privacy". National Review. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  29. ^ Nelson, Jacob L; Taneja, Harsh (October 2018). "The small, disloyal fake news audience: The role of audience availability in fake news consumption". New Media & Society. 20 (10). SAGE Publications: 4. doi:10.1177/1461444818758715. S2CID 52986600. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved October 9, 2020 – via ResearchGate.
  30. ^ Fleming, Nic (June 17, 2020). "Coronavirus misinformation, and how scientists can help to fight it". Nature. 583 (7814): 155–156. Bibcode:2020Natur.583..155F. doi:10.1038/d41586-020-01834-3. PMID 32601491. S2CID 256823163.
  31. ^ Dicker, Rachel (November 14, 2016). "Avoid These Fake News Sites at All Costs". U.S. News & World Report. Archived from the original on August 19, 2019. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  32. ^ Nover, Scott (November 9, 2018). "The Legal Precedent That Could Protect Jim Acosta's Credentials". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on June 24, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  33. ^ Jenkins, Aric (March 25, 2017). "InfoWars' Alex Jones Apologized for His 'Pizzagate' Coverage. He Blamed Other Media for It". Fortune. Archived from the original on June 22, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  34. ^ Romano, Aja (December 30, 2016). "The 2016 culture war, as illustrated by the alt-right". Vox. Archived from the original on November 8, 2020. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  35. ^ a b Owen, Laura Hazard (October 26, 2020). "Older people and Republicans are most likely to share Covid-19 stories from fake news sites on Twitter". Nieman Lab. Retrieved June 25, 2022.
  36. ^ Sandlin, Jennifer (2017). Paranoid Pedagogies: Education, Culture, and Paranoia. Springer International. p. 170. ISBN 978-3-319-64764-7. Archived from the original on January 14, 2021. Retrieved June 22, 2020 – via Google Books.
  37. ^ a b "Roger Stone, former Donald Trump adviser, lands InfoWars gig with Alex Jones". The Washington Times. December 31, 2017. Archived from the original on July 22, 2018. Retrieved June 22, 2020.
  38. ^ "A Visit to the InfoWars Studios of Alex Jones". Der Spiegel. December 31, 2017. Archived from the original on August 19, 2017. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  39. ^ "Infowars.com Audience Insights". quantcast.com. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  40. ^ "Alex Jones, Pizzagate booster and America's most famous conspiracy theorist, explained". Vox. Archived from the original on December 10, 2017. Retrieved December 9, 2017.
  41. ^ a b "I watched Alex Jones give his viewers health advice. Here's what I learned". Vox.com. April 6, 2017. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  42. ^ a b "Alex Jones doubles down on 'completely fake' Sandy Hook claims". Daily News. New York. November 18, 2016. Archived from the original on March 3, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  43. ^ a b c Wattles, Jackie (May 17, 2017). "InfoWars' Alex Jones apologizes for saying Chobani supports 'migrant rapists'". CNNMoney. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  44. ^ a b c Montero, David (May 17, 2017). "Alex Jones settles Chobani lawsuit and retracts comments about refugees in Twin Falls, Idaho". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  45. ^ a b "Don't get fooled by these fake news sites". CBS News. February 10, 2017. Archived from the original on March 4, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  46. ^ a b Matthew Odam (December 7, 2017). "How Austin's East Side Pies became target of fake #pizzagate". Austin American-Statesman. Archived from the original on December 7, 2016. Retrieved December 28, 2017.
  47. ^ [41][42][43][44][45][46]
  48. ^ Pink, Aiden (March 1, 2018). "Alex Jones Accused Of Anti-Semitism, Sexual Harassment". The Forward. Retrieved February 17, 2022.
  49. ^ a b "Alex Jones slammed with 30-day ban from Facebook for hateful videos [Update]". Ars Technica. Archived from the original on July 28, 2018. Retrieved July 29, 2018.
  50. ^ a b "Twitter permanently bans Alex Jones and Infowars". CBS News. September 6, 2018. Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 6, 2018.
  51. ^ a b "YouTube removes 'hate speech' videos from InfoWars" Archived July 26, 2018, at the Wayback Machine. BBC News.
  52. ^ a b c Riley, Charles (August 6, 2018). "YouTube, Apple and Facebook remove content from InfoWars and Alex Jones". CNN Money. Archived from the original on August 6, 2018. Retrieved August 6, 2018.
  53. ^ "Roku U-turn over streaming Alex Jones's InfoWars". BBC News. January 16, 2019. Archived from the original on January 16, 2019. Retrieved January 16, 2019.
  54. ^ a b Seitz-Wald, Alex (May 2, 2013). "Alex Jones: Conspiracy Inc". Salon. Archived from the original on December 11, 2020. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  55. ^ a b c d e Williamson, Elizabeth; Steel, Emily (September 7, 2018). "Conspiracy Theories Made Alex Jones Very Rich. They May Bring Him Down". The New York Times. The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 8, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  56. ^ a b c d e Brown, Seth (May 4, 2017). "Alex Jones's Media Empire Is a Machine Built to Sell Snake-Oil Diet Supplements". New York. Archived from the original on October 10, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  57. ^ a b Warzel, Charlie (May 3, 2017). "Alex Jones Just Can't Help Himself". BuzzFeed News. BuzzFeed. Archived from the original on September 9, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2018.
  58. ^ Melhado, William (July 30, 2022). "Alex Jones' company files for bankruptcy midway through Sandy Hook damages trial". The Texas Tribune. Retrieved August 3, 2022.
  59. ^ a b "Judge to approve auctions liquidating Alex Jones' Infowars to help pay Sandy Hook families". NBC News. September 25, 2024. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  60. ^ a b Williamson, Elizabeth (September 25, 2024). "Alex Jones's Infowars Will Be Auctioned Off to Pay Sandy Hook Families". The New York Times. New York City. Retrieved September 25, 2024.
  61. ^ a b Relman, Eliza (June 19, 2017). "How a public-access broadcaster from Austin, Texas, became a major conspiracy theorist and one of Trump's most vocal supporters". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 24, 2018. Retrieved January 17, 2018.
  62. ^ "Free Speech Systems, Llc". companiestx.com. Archived from the original on January 7, 2018. Retrieved January 6, 2018.
  63. ^ Williamson, Elizabeth (March 7, 2022). "Alex Jones and Donald Trump: A Fateful Alliance Draws Scrutiny". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 19, 2022.
  64. ^ "FBI investigating if right-wing sites had role in campaign hacks". Daily News. New York. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  65. ^ Blake, Aaron (August 22, 2017). "Analysis | Trump backers' alarming reliance on hoax and conspiracy theory websites, in 1 chart". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Retrieved October 10, 2021.
  66. ^ Faris, Robert; Roberts, Hal; Etling, Bruce (August 8, 2017). Partisanship, Propaganda, and Disinformation: Online Media and the 2016 U.S. Presidential Election. Berkman Center for Internet & Society. p. 72. OCLC 1048396744.
  67. ^ "The live-streamers who are challenging traditional journalism". The New Yorkers. December 11, 2017. Archived from the original on January 8, 2019. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  68. ^ "Top InfoWars editor criticizes Trump after anti-Muslim tweets". The Hill. November 29, 2017. Archived from the original on January 2, 2018. Retrieved January 1, 2018.
  69. ^ "The Conspiracy Bureau: Alex Jones Teams Up With Jerome Corsi for White House Coverage". Southern Poverty Law Center. February 2, 2017. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  70. ^ "Conspiracy outlet InfoWars was granted temporary White House press credentials". Business Insider. May 22, 2017. Archived from the original on January 17, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  71. ^ Roig-Franzia, Manuel; Helderman, Rosalind S. (January 24, 2019). "Witness in special counsel probe, former Stone associate, collected payments from Infowars through job Stone arranged". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on July 30, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  72. ^ "Mike Cernovich, conspiracy theorist praised by Trump Jr., lands InfoWars gig with Alex Jones". The Washington Times. May 4, 2017. Archived from the original on January 3, 2018. Retrieved January 2, 2018.
  73. ^ "Right-wing troll Mike Cernovich goes professional with new hosting gig at InfoWars". CNN. May 3, 2017. Archived from the original on May 7, 2017. Retrieved August 3, 2020.
  74. ^ Holt, Jared (July 7, 2017). "From meme wars to death threats: How far-right internet culture turns into political action". Media Matters for America. Archived from the original on July 7, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  75. ^ Fearnow, Benjamin (July 6, 2017). "#CNNBlackmail, Trump Trolls: Barrage Of Negative Reviews Tank CNN App Ratings". International Business Times. Archived from the original on July 9, 2017. Retrieved July 8, 2017.
  76. ^ Paul P. Murphy; Gianluca Mezzofiore (March 3, 2018). "Advertisers flee InfoWars founder Alex Jones' YouTube channel". Money.cnn.com. Archived from the original on March 3, 2018. Retrieved March 4, 2018.
  77. ^ Benton, Joshua (October 5, 2018). "Here's how much Americans trust 38 major news organizations (hint: not all that much!)". Nieman Lab. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
  78. ^ Higgins-Dunn, Noah (March 12, 2020). "NY attorney general orders InfoWars' Alex Jones to stop selling coronavirus 'treatment' products". CNBC. Archived from the original on April 17, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  79. ^ Rosenbaum, Leah. "InfoWars Founder Alex Jones Must Stop Selling Fake Coronavirus Silver Cures, FDA Says". Forbes. Archived from the original on April 28, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  80. ^ Center for Drug Evaluation and Research (April 9, 2020). "Free Speech Systems LLC d.b.a. Infowars.com – 605802 – 04/09/2020". Food and Drug Administration. Archived from the original on April 22, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.
  81. ^ Griffing, Alexander (August 6, 2018) [March 1, 2017]. "Remember When Donald Trump Appeared on Alex Jones' 'InfoWars'". Haaretz. Retrieved April 20, 2022.
  82. ^ "Former Infowars staffers filed a formal complaint against conspiracy theorist Alex Jones alleging anti-Semitism, racism, and sexual misconduct". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 1, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  83. ^ "Alex Jones Accused of Sexual Harassment, Bullying at InfoWars". The Daily Beast. February 28, 2018. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved March 1, 2018.
  84. ^ Jackman, Josh (March 1, 2018). "Alex Jones 'groomed staff for homosexual sex,' lawsuit alleges". Pink News. Archived from the original on March 11, 2018. Retrieved March 11, 2018.
  85. ^ "Alex Jones accused of sexual harassment, racism and anti-Semitism". NY Daily News. Archived from the original on March 27, 2018. Retrieved March 26, 2018.
  86. ^ "Facebook suspends US conspiracy theorist Alex Jones". TheGuardian.com. July 27, 2018. Archived from the original on July 27, 2018. Retrieved July 27, 2018.
  87. ^ "Facebook, Apple, YouTube and Spotify ban Infowars' Alex Jones". The Guardian. August 14, 2018. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  88. ^ Zhao, Christina (August 14, 2018). "Vimeo Removes Alex Jones's InfoWars Content: 'Discriminatory and Hateful'". Newsweek. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  89. ^ Darcy, Oliver (February 5, 2019) "Facebook removes 22 more pages connected to conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and InfoWars" Archived February 6, 2019, at the Wayback Machine CNN Business
  90. ^ Beckett, Lois (May 5, 2019). "Trump tweets support for far-right figures banned by Facebook". The Guardian. Archived from the original on August 5, 2019. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  91. ^ Morse, Jack (August 6, 2018). "InfoWars' Pinterest page goes offline after Mashable inquiry". Mashable. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  92. ^ Lomas, Natasha (August 7, 2018). "MailChimp bans Alex Jones for hateful conduct". Techcrunch. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  93. ^ Zhou, Marrian (August 7, 2018). "Alex Jones' Infowars removed from LinkedIn and MailChimp". CNET. Archived from the original on August 13, 2018. Retrieved August 14, 2018.
  94. ^ Cappetta, Michael; Collins, Ben (May 2, 2019). "Alex Jones, Louis Farrakhan, others banned from Facebook and Instagram". NBC News. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  95. ^ Cole, Samantha (October 2, 2018). "Wikipedia Bans Right Wing Site Breitbart as a Source for Facts". Vice. Archived from the original on June 30, 2020. Retrieved June 29, 2020.
  96. ^ "Alex Jones responds to his Twitter ban by posting a 13-minute video to Twitter". Vice News. August 15, 2018. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  97. ^ "Twitter suspends conspiracy theorist Alex Jones for one week". CNN Money. August 15, 2018. Archived from the original on August 15, 2018. Retrieved August 15, 2018.
  98. ^ "Elon Musk restores conspiracy theorist Alex Jones' X account, reversing Twitter's ban". PBS NewsHour. December 10, 2023. Retrieved May 6, 2024.
  99. ^ Whitcomb, Dan (September 8, 2018). "Apple Inc bans Alex Jones app for 'objectionable content'". Reuters. Archived from the original on July 23, 2019. Retrieved September 8, 2018.
  100. ^ Popper, Nathaniel (September 21, 2018). "PayPal Cuts Off Alex Jones's Infowars, Joining Other Tech Giants". The New York Times. Archived from the original on September 26, 2018. Retrieved September 26, 2018.
  101. ^ Taylor Lorenz (May 2, 2019). "Instagram and Facebook Ban Far-Right Extremists". The Atlantic. Archived from the original on May 3, 2019. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  102. ^ Newman, Lily Hay (March 27, 2020). "Google Bans Infowars Android App Over Coronavirus Claims". Wired. Archived from the original on March 28, 2020. Retrieved March 29, 2020.
  103. ^ Squire, Megan; Hayden, Michael Edison (March 8, 2023). "'Absolutely Bonkers': Inside Infowars' Money Machine". Southern Poverty Law Center. Retrieved March 27, 2023. Jones' text messages suggest Jones and his collaborators sought to launder his Infowars content to social media sites that had banned it, while disguising its true origin. For example, the texts reveal that Jones created the junk-news website National File.
  104. ^ Barr, Kyle (March 17, 2023). "Alex Jones' Alleged Secret Site Gets Around Social Media Bans". Gizmodo. Retrieved March 27, 2023. In leaked texts shared earlier this month by the Southern Poverty Law Center between him and well-known Republican operative Roger Stone in 2020, Jones said "off record this is my site" in relation to National File.
  105. ^ "Alex Jones' Infowars files for bankruptcy in wake of defamation suits over his assertions that the Sandy Hook massacre was a hoax". CBS News. April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  106. ^ "Alex Jones' InfoWars files for bankruptcy in U.S. court". Reuters. April 18, 2022. Retrieved April 18, 2022.
  107. ^ a b c Collins, Dave (June 24, 2024). "Bankruptcy trustee discloses plan to shut down Alex Jones' Infowars and liquidate assets". Associated Press. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
  108. ^ Visser, Nick (June 24, 2024). "Alex Jones' Bankruptcy Trustee Plans To Shutter Infowars And 'Liquidate Its Inventory'". HuffPost. Retrieved June 26, 2024.
  109. ^ "Auction – By Order of the US Bankruptcy Court in the matter of Alexander E. JonesFree Speech Systems Media Holdings dba Infowars". Three \Sixty Asset Advisors. Archived from the original on October 8, 2024.
  110. ^
  111. ^ Gold, Hadas (November 19, 2024). "Alex Jones and his allies are desperately trying to stop the sale of Infowars to The Onion". CNN. Retrieved November 20, 2024. ...The Onion, according to a copy of its bid filed as evidence by Jones, said their bid should be valued at closer to $7 million considering the families' credit.
  112. ^ Mullin, Benjamin (November 14, 2024). "The Onion Says It Has Bought Infowars, Alex Jones' Site, Out of Bankruptcy". The New York Times. Retrieved November 14, 2024.
  113. ^ a b c d Collins, Dave (November 15, 2024). "What happens next in The Onion's effort to buy Alex Jones' Infowars". apnews.com. Associated Press. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  114. ^ a b c d e Zimmerman, David (November 16, 2024). "Judge Blocks The Onion Bid for Alex Jones's InfoWars to Review Bankruptcy Auction". nationalreview.com. National Review. Retrieved November 16, 2024. "Infowars sale to the Onion never happened," Jones posted on X on Saturday. "I am back broadcasting from the Infowars studios... This is a huge scandal! MSM is still falsely reporting that the Onion is the new owner."
  115. ^ Gold, Hadas (November 19, 2024). "Alex Jones and his allies are desperately trying to stop the sale of Infowars to The Onion". CNN. Retrieved November 20, 2024. In a lawsuit filed Monday in the US Bankruptcy Court for the Southern District of Texas, Jones claimed trustee Christopher Murray and the families "colluded" for a "flagrantly non-compliant Frankenstein bid" and asked a judge to halt the sale.
  116. ^ Hayden, Michael Edison (October 3, 2017). "Alt-right conspiracy theories blame Antifa for the mass shooting in Las Vegas". Newsweek. Archived from the original on October 5, 2017. Retrieved February 9, 2018.
  117. ^ Dunning, Brian (November 8, 2011). "Skeptoid #495: Updated: Top 10 Worst Anti-Science Websites". Skeptoid. Retrieved October 23, 2020. 4. InfoWars.com (mixes tired conspiracy theories with racism, anti-Semitism, and profound distrust of scientific discovery.)
  118. ^ "Alex Jones' Mis-Infowars: 7 Bat-Shit Conspiracy Theories". Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  119. ^ "Alex Jones says 9/11, the Sandy Hook shooting and the Boston Marathon bombing were "false flag" operations". Newsweek. June 16, 2017. Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  120. ^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (October 9, 2017). "Las Vegas Massacre Gives InfoWars More Conspiracy Fodder". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  121. ^ Finnegan, William (June 23, 2016). "Donald Trump and the "Amazing" Alex Jones". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  122. ^ "No, Armed Protests Are Not Normal in Austin". Archived from the original on December 30, 2017. Retrieved December 30, 2017.
  123. ^ Crilly, Rob (April 18, 2017). "Fake news itself, not just Alex Jones, is on trial in his custody case". The Telegraph. Archived from the original on April 13, 2018. Retrieved April 6, 2018 – via The Daily Telegraph.
  124. ^ Kuznia, Rob; Devine, Curt; Black, Nelli (June 2022). "The Alex Jones-ification of the GOP". www.cnn.com. Retrieved June 13, 2022.
  125. ^ "The FBI are 'investigating the role of Breitbart in spreading fake news with bots'". Independent.co.uk. March 21, 2017. Archived from the original on February 22, 2018. Retrieved January 29, 2018.
  126. ^ Lytvynenko, Jane (November 8, 2017). "InfoWars Has Republished More Than 1,000 Articles From RT Without Permission". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on January 1, 2018. Retrieved December 31, 2017.
  127. ^ Link, Taylor (November 9, 2017). "Infowars peddled stories from a Russian propaganda outlet for years". Salon. Archived from the original on September 16, 2018. Retrieved September 16, 2018.
  128. ^
  129. ^ Sommer, Will (December 31, 2019). "Alex Jones and Infowars Ordered to Pay $100K in Court Costs for Sandy Hook Case". The Daily Beast. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  130. ^ Vigdor, Neil (December 31, 2019). "Judge Orders Alex Jones and Infowars to Pay $100,000 in Sandy Hook Legal Fees". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on January 1, 2020. Retrieved January 1, 2020.
  131. ^ Collins, Dave (June 2, 2022). "Infowars agrees to end bankruptcy after Sandy Hook deal". AP NEWS. Retrieved June 11, 2022.
  132. ^ "YouTube Pulls Alex Jones Video Saying Parkland Victims Were Actors". Fortune. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 28, 2018.
  133. ^ Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code (Chapter 73. Libel, Title 4. Liability in Tort). June 14, 2013. Archived from the original on September 7, 2018. Retrieved September 7, 2018.
  134. ^ James Doubek (March 26, 2017). "Conspiracy Theorist Alex Jones Apologizes For Promoting Comet Ping Pong 'Pizzagate' Fabrication". NPR. Archived from the original on December 29, 2017. Retrieved December 29, 2017.
  135. ^ Rozsa, Matthew (April 25, 2017). "Chobani sues Alex Jones after Infowars host links yogurt company's welcoming of refugees to Idaho violence". Salon. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  136. ^ Darcy, Oliver (March 4, 2019). "Jerome Corsi retracts InfoWars story that spread Seth Rich conspiracy theory | CNN Business". CNN. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  137. ^ Kroll, Andy (March 4, 2019). "Pro-Trump Conspiracy Peddler Jerome Corsi Apologizes to Seth Rich's Family". Rolling Stone. Retrieved June 23, 2024.
  138. ^ Marantz, Andrew (April 6, 2020). "Alex Jones's Bogus Coronavirus Cures". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on April 19, 2020. Retrieved April 22, 2020.