The Onion, a satirical publication, won a bankruptcy auction earlier this month to purchase conspiracy theorist Alex Jones’ website, InfoWars, and other related assets. However, that sale is now in limbo after a federal judge temporarily halted the deal.
On Monday, Elon Musk threw yet another wrench in the works, objecting to the transfer of InfoWars’ X accounts to its new owners.
X Corporation broadly claims that it owns all X accounts on its platform, including those operated by Alex Jones and InfoWars, according to an objection filed on Monday in bankruptcy court. Therefore, Elon Musk’s platform argues The Onion cannot purchase these accounts from Jones or his company, Free Speech Systems, because they are not his to sell.
This is not the first time Musk has stepped in to defend Jones’ social media presence. Back in 2023, Elon Musk restored the X accounts of Alex Jones and InfoWars. These accounts were “permanently banned” by Twitter’s previous leadership in 2018, after their posts were found to contain abusive content that violated the platform’s rules. Musk said at the time he disagreed with Jones, but wanted to restore his accounts in the name of “free speech”.
Musk’s lawyers now claim that users don’t actually own their profiles on the supposed “free speech platform.”
“The ‘sale’ of the X Accounts as the Trustee requests would be a wrongful transfer of the license to use X Corp.’s Services. Such a sale would plainly violate X Corp.’s TOS and its ownership rights,” said lawyers representing X in the filing. “In other words, the Trustee is seeking to sell something that neither it, Free Speech Systems, nor Jones owns or has any legal interest in.”
This legal filing clearly states that X Corp does not object to the overall sale of Free Speech Systems to The Onion, but purely the X accounts. The accounts named in the case are @infowars, @BANNEDdotVIDEO, @WarRoomShow, and @RealAlexJones.
Musk’s social media platform claims that its terms of service makes clear these accounts are the “exclusive property” of X Corporation. In Section 4, the company does in fact say it is giving all users a “license” to use their X accounts. However, users cannot sell or transfer this license without X’s explicit consent.
Jones declared bankruptcy after he was ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to the families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut. He was ordered to pay damages for defamation after repeatedly spreading lies that the 2012 shooting, which killed 20 first graders and six educators, was a hoax staged by actors to increase gun control.
While Musk fights the transfer of these X accounts, federal bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez said on Monday that he may hold an evidentiary hearing next month to determine whether The Onion should be allowed to purchase Alex Jones’ media company.
Ultimately, Lopez could allow The Onion to move forward with the purchase, order a new auction, or name another bidder as the winner.