The claim that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones was fined $150 billion for warning about COVID-19 crimes is false. Jones has not been fined any amount close to that figure for his statements about COVID-19. However, he has been ordered to pay nearly $1.5 billion to the families of Sandy Hook shooting victims. Jones promoted various conspiracy theories on his Infowars show, including claiming that the Sandy Hook shooting was staged and that grieving parents were crisis actors. After lawsuits were filed against him by the families, a jury decided he would have to pay compensatory and punitive damages totaling $1.5 billion. Jones filed for bankruptcy after these rulings, and a judge ordered the liquidation of his personal assets and Infowars’ parent company.
There has been no lawsuit related to COVID-19 statements against Jones. However, in 2020, the New York Attorney General sent Jones a cease and desist letter accusing him of fraudulently marketing products as treatments for COVID-19. The claim juxtaposed Jones with Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg, who faced pressure to censor COVID-19 content on Facebook. Despite the widespread sharing of the claim on social media, it is important to rely on credible sources for accurate information and to verify claims before sharing them further.
Photo credit
www.usatoday.com