Huckster of fringe news, conspiracy theories and questionable products, Alex Jones is on the hook for around $950 million in damages for claiming that the families of children killed in the 2012 Sandy Hook shootings faked the tragedy. During the defamation trials, Jones has continued to portray himself on his broadcasts as a victim of a global conspiracy and urged his followers to contribute to his defense funds and buy his products. (Business Insider, October 30, 2022, by Ashley Collman and Tom Porter)
The conservative provocateur saw that the First Amendment does not extend to protecting speakers who spout lies that ruin peoples’ lives, that the Sandy Hook massacre was staged as part of a scheme to deprive citizens of their guns. The families gave testimony about the consequences of the lies Jones told on air that caused his followers to mount a decade-long campaign of threat and harassment as they dealt with the grief of losing their children. (Reuters, October 12, 2022, by Jack Queen and Jacqueline Thomsen)