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Alex Jones fighting attempt to sell his social media account rights in Infowars auction (www.nbcnews.com)

submitted 15 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

37 comments fedilink hide all child comments

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.

Jones’ 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 “persona” that cannot be owned by someone other than himself.

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[–] [email protected] -5 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

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!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

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 Jones’ X account, and others on Telegram, Gab, Parler and other platforms, “are frequently used to promote and post Infowars content, and in some cases, have a significant number of followers.” Jones’ 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 Jones’ accounts have drawn particular interest from multiple parties in buying them.

From the article neither of us bothered to read.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 1 hour 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?