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

submitted 13 hours ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

35 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] -4 points 9 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 6 hours ago* (last edited 5 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 1 hour 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 1 hour 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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 9 hours ago

Even his only fans?

[–] [email protected] 22 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 7 minutes 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.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 6 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 13 points 10 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 6 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 9 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.

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

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

[–] [email protected] 1 points 4 minutes 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.

[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 3 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 13 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 10 hours ago

He would still be in arrears for this judgement , as the seizures and auctions won’t actually cover all of the award. So, Infowars 2 would just be taken as well.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

They also seized his bank accounts and production equipment.

[–] [email protected] 16 points 12 hours ago (2 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 0 points 9 hours ago

Yeah, no idea how I didn't read that part 😅🤦

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

Unfortunately that’s not a far fetched possibility.

[–] [email protected] 56 points 12 hours ago (1 children)

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

[–] [email protected] 4 points 4 hours ago

Justice boner

[–] [email protected] 27 points 12 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 32 points 12 hours ago

Hmm...

Yeah...

Get fucked.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 12 hours ago (3 children)

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.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 8 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (2 children)

[email protected] users would be a sight to behold

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago

𝙂𝙚𝙣𝙚𝙫𝙖 𝙘𝙤𝙣𝙫𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙚𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙩𝙤 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙧𝙚𝙨𝙘𝙪𝙚.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 10 hours ago

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

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 hours ago

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