Texas slashes $50m judgment against Alex Jones over false claim Sandy Hook shooting was hoax

In a significant legal victory, a Texas court on Friday reduced a $50 million judgment against Infowars founder Alex Jones to $1.5 million in damages. The ruling pertains to Jones' false claims that the 2012 Sandy Hook school shooting was a hoax. This judgement does not impact a $1.4 billion judgment handed down in Connecticut, but it is a major win for Jones after he and his company, Free Speech Systems, were found liable for damages.

The unanimous opinion by the Texas Third Court of Appeals stated that Sandy Hook parents Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis did not prove that Jones' harassment actions went beyond the $750,000 cap on damages for each plaintiff. Heslin and Lewis' 6-year-old son, Jesse Lewis, was among the 20 children and six educators killed in the 2012 attack in Newtown, Connecticut.

This was the first time Jones was held financially responsible for spreading lies about the massacre, which claimed it was faked by the government to push for gun control. Jones, who claimed the attack was real, admitted during the trial that he was wrong to have lied about it. However, Heslin and Lewis demanded that Jones pay for the years of suffering he inflicted on them and other Sandy Hook families.

Jones' trial attorney, Andino Reynal, predicted the damages amount would be reduced following the verdict. Jones and his company have moved towards bankruptcy, and their legal proceedings are ongoing. The satirical website The Onion, in an attempt to capitalize on the situation, has set up its own parody version of Infowars. Jones gave up the Infowars brand in April and shifted his shows to new websites, posting them on his personal X account.