On October 12th, a Connecticut jury ordered Alex Jones, a far right conspiracy theorist and radio talk show host, to pay 965 million dollars in damages to the families of Sandy Hook victims. In early 2022, Alex Jones promoted the idea that the Sandy Hook shooting was merely a hoax. He called the event “as phony as a three dollar bill” and labeled the parents of the victims as “crisis actors.” These accusations led to the families being threatened and constantly harassed by other conspiracy theorists. 

Jones took the stand on Thursday, October 6th, at his defamation trial. Jones’ defense said his quotes had been heavily misrepresented. He stated, “I’ve said things I probably shouldn’t have said,” and added, “I didn’t realize the power I had.” His statements heavily affected the families and led to the nonstop abuse and harassment to already struggling people. 

On top of the 965 million the Judge decided that he could give Alex Jones the highest possible punitive damages.The Judge is considering charging him $5000 per “Violation”, which would be calculated per the 550 million followers he has across platforms. If this persists these numbers could add up to about 2.75 trillion dollars. The families agreed that extra charges are warranted on top of the almost one billion dollars. The verdict concluding that Jones is required to pay compensation to the families gives justice to those affected by his lies.