Alex Jones fighting attempt to sell his social media account rights in Infowars auction

Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is seeking to protect his individual societal media accounts from being sold successful nan upcoming auction of his Infowars media level to salary much than $1 cardinal he owes relatives of nan Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, claiming trading those accounts would break his privateness and contradict him a chance to make a caller commencement aft bankruptcy.

The trustee overseeing nan liquidation and selloff of nan assets of Infowars and its genitor institution Free Speech Systems, asked a national judge connected Friday to see nan societal media accounts arsenic portion of nan auctions scheduled for November and December. The judge delayed a determination connected nan matter for astatine slightest a week.

Jones' lawyers reason nan individual media accounts that usage his existent sanction are not owned by Infowars aliases FSS, but are controlled by him personally, and should beryllium considered portion of his “persona” that cannot beryllium owned by personification different than himself.

They reason that trustee Christopher Murray does not person a correct to nan societal media accounts arsenic spot that tin beryllium sold, and warned that a purchaser could look lawsuits arsenic to whether they were rightfully obtained.

U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Christopher Lopez successful Houston said a projected bid regarding nan imaginable waste of nan societal media accounts that preserved Jones' correct to writer complete ownership later was unclear, and tentatively scheduled different proceeding successful a week.

“We should person awesome clarity and everybody agrees that thing tin beryllium sold earlier it tin beryllium sold," Lopez said. “I want a purchaser aliases a bidder to cognize precisely what they deliberation they tin buy. I don't want to create litigation consequence for a imaginable purchaser.”

The trustee is besides seeking to beryllium allowed to waste disconnected nan authorities to royalties from Jones’ book “The Great Reset: And nan War for nan World” published successful August 2022, and his video crippled “Alex Jones NWO Wars” released successful 2023, that features Jones arsenic nan leader successful a shooting game.

Despite nan pending nonaccomplishment of his company, Jones has vowed to proceed his talk shows done different means, perchance including a caller website and his individual societal media accounts. He besides has suggested that Infowars’ assets could beryllium bought by his supporters, allowing him to proceed hosting his show arsenic an worker nether nan Infowars marque successful nan company's location metropolis of Austin, Texas.

In seeking nan authorities to nan societal media accounts, nan ineligible squad for nan trustee based on successful tribunal filings that Jones’ X account, and others connected Telegram, Gab, Parler and different platforms, “are often utilized to beforehand and station Infowars content, and successful immoderate cases, person a important number of followers.” Jones' X relationship has astir 3 cardinal followers.

The trustee based on that societal media accounts of influencers, celebrities and governmental personalities person go valuable assets, and that Jones' accounts person drawn peculiar liking from aggregate parties successful buying them.

If sold, Jones' attorneys said litigation would dangle connected who purchased them.

“We sewage comfortable pinch nan trustee that if definite parties were nan successful bidder, location would beryllium litigation later, but if definite parties were nan successful bidder, location wouldn’t beryllium litigation later," Vickie Driver, 1 of Jones' attorneys, told nan judge.

“There is worth to immoderate folks successful buying these assets and utilizing them successful 1 way, and worth to different folks to usage them successful different way," Driver said.

Jones and his institution some revenge for bankruptcy protection successful 2022 — nan aforesaid twelvemonth Sandy Hook families won astir $1.5 cardinal successful defamation and affectional distress lawsuits against Jones for his many times calling nan 2012 schoolhouse shooting a hoax staged by “crisis actors” to get much weapon power authorities passed. Twenty first-graders and six educators were killed successful nan Newtown, Connecticut, shooting.

During 2 civilian tests successful Texas and Connecticut, parents and children of galore of nan victims testified that they were traumatized by Jones’ hoax conspiracies and his followers’ actions. They said they were harassed and threatened by Jones’ believers, immoderate of whom confronted nan grieving families successful personification saying nan shooting ne'er happened and their children ne'er existed. One genitor said personification threatened to excavation up his dormant son’s grave.

Jones is appealing nan civilian assemblage verdicts, citing free reside authorities and questioning whether nan families proved immoderate relationship betwixt his comments and nan group who harassed and threatened nan relatives. He has since acknowledged that nan shooting did happen.