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Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking to protect his personal social media accounts from being sold in the upcoming auction of his Infowars media platform to pay more than $1 billion he owes relatives of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, claiming selling those accounts would violate his privacy and deny him a chance to make a fresh start after bankruptcy.

The trustee overseeing the liquidation and selloff of the assets of Infowars and its parent company Free Speech Systems, asked a federal judge on Friday to include the social media accounts as part of the auctions scheduled for November and December. The judge delayed a decision on the matter for at least a week.

Jonesโ€™ lawyers argue the personal media accounts that use his real name are not owned by Infowars or FSS, but are controlled by him personally, and should be considered part of his โ€œpersonaโ€ that cannot be owned by someone other than himself.

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[-] x00z@lemmy.world 6 points 4 hours ago

Fuck this guy.

But his personal social media account? What the fuck is that

[-] Etterra@lemmy.world 4 points 6 hours ago

Cry some more crocodile tears ya no-neck freak.

[-] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 79 points 23 hours ago

Ruin his life. Destroy everything he has. Make him reap what he sowed.

[-] FenrirIII@lemmy.world 12 points 15 hours ago

Justice boner

[-] ryven@lemmy.dbzer0.com 30 points 21 hours ago

So fuck Alex Jones, but I really don't think it's a good idea to force people to sell their accounts so that other people can impersonate them. It's just inviting social engineering attacks.

[-] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 28 points 11 hours ago

Except in this case, much like with Trump, His business and his person were deeply intertwined. So the account is a business asset. And as such, it is subject to being an asset of the company. Maybe he should have separated them at some point.

[-] Joeffect@lemmy.world 15 points 17 hours ago

Isn't it against the tos to sell your account?

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 4 points 8 hours ago

Law trumps TOS so it really doesn't matter what it says.

[-] unrelatedkeg 2 points 7 hours ago

But is there any precedent in selling accounts due to a court decision? Does the social media company get to close the account due to the TOS violation?

In any case, if it does get sold, it'll create an interesting situation.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 11 points 10 hours ago

If the Wendys burger chain was sold, there would be no problem with the new owner taking the Wendys social media accounts. In this case Jones has long used his social media accounts as part of his business. They're part of the Infowars assets so they can and should be handed over to debtors to settle the claims against Infowars.

[-] Hugh_Jeggs@lemm.ee 19 points 21 hours ago

Yes but you can just tell everyone the attacks never happened, for attention

[-] some_guy 36 points 22 hours ago

They argue that trustee Christopher Murray does not have a right to the social media accounts as property that can be sold, and warned that a purchaser could face lawsuits as to whether they were rightfully obtained.

I'd like to buy it and start posting LGBTQ-positive content. I'm not part of the coalition. I just think it'd be fun to watch people react.

Jones is appealing the civil jury verdicts, citing free speech rights and questioning whether the families proved any connection between his comments and the people who harassed and threatened the relatives. He has since acknowledged that the shooting did happen.

Yeah, Margie TG just happened to follow a kid shouting at him for being part of a coverup and recording it on her phone be coincidence. It's not because she gets her talking points from this asshole.

[-] turbowafflz@lemmy.world 15 points 14 hours ago

I want john oliver to buy all of his stuff and run his own show with it that would be so funny

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 43 points 23 hours ago

Hmm...

Yeah...

Get fucked.

[-] Reverendender@sh.itjust.works 40 points 23 hours ago

I'm sending thoughts and prayers for his utter fucking destruction

[-] mipadaitu@lemmy.world 20 points 23 hours ago

What's stopping him from just making infowars2?

His rage is his commodity, so I don't get why he can't just start up a new channel and just do the exact same thing.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 17 points 17 hours ago

What's stopping him from just making infowars2?

The law, basically. Taking his assets elsewhere to "hide" them from his creditors constitutes fraud.

He even tried to already, but that was shot down by the judge, who made him swear under oath to not try that again. Which he already IS doing, very blatantly.

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

That's not what they're suggesting, I'm pretty sure. They're saying, after selling all the stuff, just start up a new company with the same schtick. Alex Jones is free to still be Alex Jones. And that's all Info Wars really is/was.

[-] Viking_Hippie@lemmy.world 6 points 7 hours ago

With what money? He owes much more than the combined worth of his personal and business assets. Any significantly similar new company he would found would be under water in debt from the start.

He's banking on a far right billionaire or organization buying Infowars and keeping him on as an employee, because that's the only way he can keep doing it.

[-] Alexstarfire@lemmy.world 2 points 2 hours ago

๐Ÿคท That's a different question.

[-] catloaf@lemm.ee 28 points 23 hours ago

They also seized his bank accounts and production equipment.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 23 points 23 hours ago

That said, I wouldn't exactly be shocked if his sycophantic fans got together and built him a studio and gave him a salary.

[-] ThePantser@lemmy.world 14 points 22 hours ago

Or a new patreon account and he would be rolling in money again. But I sure hope he keeps trying because until his debt is settled they are gonna keep taking from him.

[-] Krzd@lemmy.world 6 points 21 hours ago

I doubt all his equip etc. will be enough to cover the 1 billion. So any and all patreon income could be confiscated as well.

[-] ThePantser@lemmy.world 7 points 21 hours ago

That's what I meant by I hope he keeps trying so it can be taken as well.

[-] Krzd@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago

Yeah, no idea how I didn't read that part ๐Ÿ˜…๐Ÿคฆ

[-] ElJefe@lemm.ee 3 points 22 hours ago

Unfortunately thatโ€™s not a far fetched possibility.

[-] Telodzrum@lemmy.world 8 points 21 hours ago

He would still be in arrears for this judgement , as the seizures and auctions wonโ€™t actually cover all of the award. So, Infowars 2 would just be taken as well.

[-] Carrolade@lemmy.world 17 points 23 hours ago

We should all pitch in some cash to buy them and use them to start posting pro-Fediverse, pro-FOSS and privacy-related stuff.

Yeah, it might bring in some crazies, but the Fediverse can handle that better than most places.

[-] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 14 points 22 hours ago* (last edited 22 hours ago)
[-] Dainterhawk999@lemmy.world 4 points 17 hours ago

๐™‚๐™š๐™ฃ๐™š๐™ซ๐™– ๐™˜๐™ค๐™ฃ๐™ซ๐™ž๐™ฃ๐™ž๐™š๐™ฃ๐™˜๐™š ๐™ฉ๐™ค ๐™ฉ๐™๐™š ๐™ง๐™š๐™จ๐™˜๐™ช๐™š.

[-] Carrolade@lemmy.world 4 points 21 hours ago

Their interactions with .grad would be priceless. lol Not that they wouldn't instantly defed each other.

[-] subignition@fedia.io 6 points 20 hours ago

It would be nice if some nonprofit got them and rebranded to "DisinfoWars" to post critical thinking resources and deconstruct disinformation

[-] Atelopus-zeteki@fedia.io 3 points 22 hours ago

I really like this idea. Transform what he built into a force for good.

[-] unmagical@lemmy.ml 7 points 21 hours ago

What's the worst that can happen? Someone buys it and starts hawking boner pills? Yeah, that ain't exactly gonna ruin his good name.

[-] Dashi@lemmy.world 4 points 20 hours ago

Think bigger, someone gets the accounts and releases all of his private messages. If he doesn't delete them. I'm on the fence about the precident this would set.

[-] Burninator05@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Deleting them could be seen as intentionally diminishing the value of the asset before auction and get him in more trouble.

[-] JohnDClay@sh.itjust.works 6 points 22 hours ago

It'd be pretty fun if some org with opposite political leanings bought the account.

[-] FauxPseudo@lemmy.world 3 points 11 hours ago

I'm hoping that the important assets get sold to the Knowledge Fight podcast. They'd be the ones able to do the most good with them.

[-] bitchkat@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

Even his only fans?

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee -4 points 20 hours ago

This seems very bizarre to me. Is the argument, someone could make money off your account therefore it's an asset that can be sold off? Next I suppose we should sell his body off into prostitution.

Still, nice to see Lemmy wholeheartedly supporting capitalism for once...

Ooh, I know, next force him to sell his Steam account!

[-] ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml 10 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

I think it has more to do with the fact that he uses his twitter account mostly to advertise his business, making it more of a business account than a personal account even though it has his name on it.

Edit:

In seeking the rights to the social media accounts, the legal team for the trustee argued in court filings that Jonesโ€™ X account, and others on Telegram, Gab, Parler and other platforms, โ€œare frequently used to promote and post Infowars content, and in some cases, have a significant number of followers.โ€ Jonesโ€™ X account has nearly 3 million followers.

The trustee argued that social media accounts of influencers, celebrities and political personalities have become valuable assets, and that Jonesโ€™ accounts have drawn particular interest from multiple parties in buying them.

From the article neither of us bothered to read.

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 3 points 12 hours ago

I don't think that changes it. He uses the likeness of his face also; if some ad company wants to buy the rights to the likeness of his face is he forced to sell?

True I didn't read the article though.

[-] ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml 2 points 12 hours ago

His billion dollar settlement won't be discharged through this bankruptcy, so his wages will probably be garnished for the rest of his life as it is. I really don't have any sympathy for him, and taking the social media account he's been using for his business as part of that business's liquidation really doesn't feel like a big deal.

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 2 points 10 hours ago

The precedent troubles me. That a media account in a personal name, even if through that one does commercial or objectionable things, can become a commodity to buy and sell - and be forced to sell.

The same precedent applies to ordinary people too. Should a debt collector acquire your Facebook page? Because you used Facebook marketplace it's now a business asset?

[-] ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml 3 points 4 hours ago

If you had a talk show called the [Your Name] show, should it be immune to bankruptcy courts? Should a the company [Your Name] Inc. not be allowed to be bought and sold? Should we forbid people from selling tshirts or pictures with their names and faces on them? Where do you think we should draw the line?

The same precedent applies to ordinary people too. Should a debt collector acquire your Facebook page? Because you used Facebook marketplace itโ€™s now a business asset?

Most people don't own a business. The occasional use of facebook marketplace doesn't make a personal account part of a nonexistant business.

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 2 points 2 hours ago

That's a fair point. It seems rather awkward. Selling off the assets of said talk show, easy decision. Selling the brand, though, if it's tied to your person / personal name, that seems dubious. Especially against the named person's will.

For something like t-shirt likenesses, I suppose I think the line is the person's consent. I can sell permission for my face to be on your t-shirt, but being forced to seems wrong. In the extreme case: a person is legally entitled to sell nude images of themselves, but surely a court would never order it, even if that person had been previously selling nude images.

[-] ltxrtquq@lemmy.ml 1 points 42 minutes ago* (last edited 1 minute ago)

For something like t-shirt likenesses, I suppose I think the line is the personโ€™s consent

So if he had a warehouse full of tshirts with his name or face on them and decides after filing bankruptcy that he doesn't want to sell them anymore, should he just get to keep it? Should it all be destroyed?

If he took a cattle brand and burned his name into everything on set, does that mean he shouldn't have to sell it any more?

In the extreme case: a person is legally entitled to sell nude images of themselves, but surely a court would never order it, even if that person had been previously selling nude images.

If someone was already selling porn before, do you think if they continued to that they shouldn't have to give any of that money they earned to the people they owe money to? This case isn't anywhere near that extreme because he's not the only person in the world named 'Alex Jones', so how much of his 'likeness' is being sold is debatable to begin with. And also, we aren't talking about future permission to use his likeness, we're talking about a social media account used to promote his business.

this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024
273 points (98.6% liked)

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