Last week, the families of Sandy Hook victims filed a class action lawsuit against Info Wars' Alex Jones. The plaintiffs allege that Jones has fabricated conspiracy theories about the events that took place at Sandy Hook Elementary School on December 14, 2012.
Here's what the lawsuit claims:
Defendant Alex Jones is a conspiracy-theorist radio and internet personality who holds himself out as a journalist. He is the most prolific among these fabricators. But he does not work alone: along with his various business entities, Jones is the chief amplifier for a group that has worked in concert to create and propagate loathsome, false narratives about the Sandy Hook shooting and its victims, and promote their harassment and abuse.
Jones, along with these others, has persisted in the perpetuation and propagation of this outrageous, deeply painful, and defamatory lie in the face of a mountain of evidence to the contrary, and with no supporting evidence.
Alex Jones does not in fact believe that the Sandy Hook Shooting was a hoax — and he never has.
Nevertheless, time and time again, Jones accused Sandy Hook families, who are readily identifiable, of faking their loved ones' deaths, and insisted that the children that were killed are actually alive.
Jones has deliberately employed these false narratives about the Sandy Hook shooting, the victims, and their families, as part of a marketing scheme that has brought him and his business entities tens of millions of dollars per year.
The lawsuit cites a number of videos and social media posts made by Info Wars and Info Wars' staff, claiming that pushing this false narrative has become a "business model" for Jones.
The Jones defendants have developed and cultivated an audience through the propagation of narratives revolving around paranoia, social anxiety, and political discord, a known motivator for some people.
The false claim that the Sandy Hook shooting was a government-sponsored hoax designed to lead to gun control therefore a prime narrative for attracting, augmenting, and agitating Jones' audience.
Here are a few of the videos the plaintiffs cite as examples:
The plaintiffs also make the argument that Jones and his staff present themselves as journalists and then used the "trusted journalist" stance to push their conspiracy theories onto their listeners.
The lawsuit also offers examples of articles written on Info Wars that perpetuate the allegedly false narrative that Jones is pushing, such as the one posted on December 19, 2012, titled "Father of Sandy Hook Victim Asks 'Read the Card?' Seconds Before Tear-Jerking Press Conference." At the bottom of the article, there was a statement from Jones:
“My deepest condolences go out to Mr. Parker and the rest of his family, as well as all the other families suffering from this tragedy. It appears that members of the media or government have given him a card and are telling him what to say as they steer reaction to this event, so this needs to be looked into.”
The lawsuit was brought about by the families of four children and two adults who were killed during the shooting, as well as a first-responder who was on the scene.