5 ms·

His voicing his opinion for the show. If the show gets sued for what's being broadcast, then the lawsuits would take money from the company. By keeping it "bar

His voicing his opinion for the show. If the show gets sued for what's being broadcast, then the lawsuits would take money from the company. By keeping it "bare bones", then lawsuits can't do much damage as he can file for bankrupcy and the value of the suits will be scaled down. >>> Alex Jones, founder of InfoWars, was found liable for damages in a trio of lawsuits last year filed after he falsely claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax Doesn't sounds like a crime?

roenxi 5y ago
I assume the reporting on the case is really bad, because if that is literally the reason he is being sued it would be outrageous. Being a conspiracy theorist may be in poor taste but it is not a crime. But realistically the situation is probably quite complicated with actual harms that can be demonstrated.
- tlholaday 5y ago
  > I assume the reporting on the case is really bad, because if that is literally the reason he is being sued it would be outrageous. mikeryan's comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31070389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31070389) includes a link to an actual complaint.
- _hcuq 5y ago
  Claiming that parents are lying about their murdered children seems like quite a harm.
  - ericras 5y ago
    You're still speaking in a generality like the parent post is complaining about with the press coverage. There would be a big difference between Jones saying "the shooting was fake, it was a hoax" versus "that father on screen, John Smith, is a liar and an actor and doesn't even have a kid plus he's probably a pedo". Well, which is it? What did Jones actually say about Sandy Hook? That seems to never get reported.
    - gamblor956 5y ago
      Well, which is it? What did Jones actually say about Sandy Hook? That seems to never get reported. It gets reported all the time. It's both. Jones has said the shooting was fake/hoax, and Jones has called the parents liars and actors and said that they were making up the shooting for financial gain. In other words, libel.
    - FireBeyond 5y ago
      He has literally said both. He has accused specific parents of being liars and actors, and has revealed their contact information to the point where many of them received death threats from his followers.
- ddoolin 5y ago
  It was leading to harassment re: the complaint linked in the other comment.
- mikeryan 5y ago
  The reporting on the case is bad because a case was never made in court. Jones basically ignored court orders and wasn’t forthcoming in his responses to requests so the plaintiffs basically got a summary judgement without it going to trial. The only trial left is a judgement on damages.
tlholaday 5y ago
> Doesn't sounds like a crime? Defamation is not a crime, but it is a "tort" (a civil wrong, rather than a criminal wrong). -- https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-law-made-simple-29718.html https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-law-made-.... Libel is criminal in 24 states. -- https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/map-states-criminal-laws-against-defamation https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/map-states-criminal-...
lesuorac 5y ago
>> Alex Jones, founder of InfoWars, was found liable for damages in a trio of lawsuits last year filed after he falsely claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax > Doesn't sounds like a crime? My understanding of the judgement [1] is that he didn't follow the law at all w.r.t. court proceedings and so lost on that route. Which is not to say that he would've won the actual lawsuit but just he lost on technical grounds before it got to the emotional grounds. [1]: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21074090-pozner-judgment https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21074090-pozner-judg...
tlholaday 5y ago
> His voicing his opinion for the show. The plaintiffs claim that Alex Jones was `not` voicing his opinion. #9 in the Sandy Hook complaint (https://drive.google.com/file/d/12mHNXnFQo2nH555yJxC5JIEEeAoxi_Fj/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/12mHNXnFQo2nH555yJxC5JIEEeAo...) is ... "Alex Jones does not in fact believe that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax -- and he never has." Do you have evidence that Alex Jones' did, in fact, have the belief that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, at the time he made the statements?
wavefunction 5y ago
It's a civil defamation case and the professional US legal system has agreed that Alex Jones claiming Sandy Hook was a hoax and making various claims that have been shown to be false nor things he believed himself and exhorting his followers to harass the parents of the victims is a case of the accusations.

roenxi 5y ago

I assume the reporting on the case is really bad, because if that is literally the reason he is being sued it would be outrageous. Being a conspiracy theorist may be in poor taste but it is not a crime. But realistically the situation is probably quite complicated with actual harms that can be demonstrated.

tlholaday 5y ago
> I assume the reporting on the case is really bad, because if that is literally the reason he is being sued it would be outrageous. mikeryan's comment (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31070389 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=31070389) includes a link to an actual complaint.
_hcuq 5y ago
Claiming that parents are lying about their murdered children seems like quite a harm.
- ericras 5y ago
  You're still speaking in a generality like the parent post is complaining about with the press coverage. There would be a big difference between Jones saying "the shooting was fake, it was a hoax" versus "that father on screen, John Smith, is a liar and an actor and doesn't even have a kid plus he's probably a pedo". Well, which is it? What did Jones actually say about Sandy Hook? That seems to never get reported.
  - gamblor956 5y ago
    Well, which is it? What did Jones actually say about Sandy Hook? That seems to never get reported. It gets reported all the time. It's both. Jones has said the shooting was fake/hoax, and Jones has called the parents liars and actors and said that they were making up the shooting for financial gain. In other words, libel.
  - FireBeyond 5y ago
    He has literally said both. He has accused specific parents of being liars and actors, and has revealed their contact information to the point where many of them received death threats from his followers.
ddoolin 5y ago
It was leading to harassment re: the complaint linked in the other comment.
mikeryan 5y ago
The reporting on the case is bad because a case was never made in court. Jones basically ignored court orders and wasn’t forthcoming in his responses to requests so the plaintiffs basically got a summary judgement without it going to trial. The only trial left is a judgement on damages.

tlholaday 5y ago

> Doesn't sounds like a crime? Defamation is not a crime, but it is a "tort" (a civil wrong, rather than a criminal wrong). -- https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-law-made-simple-29718.html https://www.nolo.com/legal-encyclopedia/defamation-law-made-.... Libel is criminal in 24 states. -- https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/map-states-criminal-laws-against-defamation https://www.aclu.org/issues/free-speech/map-states-criminal-...

lesuorac 5y ago

>> Alex Jones, founder of InfoWars, was found liable for damages in a trio of lawsuits last year filed after he falsely claimed that the 2012 Sandy Hook school massacre was a hoax > Doesn't sounds like a crime? My understanding of the judgement [1] is that he didn't follow the law at all w.r.t. court proceedings and so lost on that route. Which is not to say that he would've won the actual lawsuit but just he lost on technical grounds before it got to the emotional grounds. [1]: https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21074090-pozner-judgment https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/21074090-pozner-judg...

tlholaday 5y ago

> His voicing his opinion for the show. The plaintiffs claim that Alex Jones was `not` voicing his opinion. #9 in the Sandy Hook complaint (https://drive.google.com/file/d/12mHNXnFQo2nH555yJxC5JIEEeAoxi_Fj/view https://drive.google.com/file/d/12mHNXnFQo2nH555yJxC5JIEEeAo...) is ... "Alex Jones does not in fact believe that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax -- and he never has." Do you have evidence that Alex Jones' did, in fact, have the belief that the Sandy Hook shooting was a hoax, at the time he made the statements?

wavefunction 5y ago

It's a civil defamation case and the professional US legal system has agreed that Alex Jones claiming Sandy Hook was a hoax and making various claims that have been shown to be false nor things he believed himself and exhorting his followers to harass the parents of the victims is a case of the accusations.