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Satirical news publication The Onion has bought Infowars, the media organisation headed by right-wing conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, for an undisclosed price at a court-ordered auction.

The Onion said that the bid was secured with the backing of families of victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, who won a $1.5bn (£1.18bn) defamation lawsuit against Jones for spreading false rumours about the massacre.

A judge in Texas ordered the auction in September, and various groups – both Jones’s allies and detractors – had suggested they would bid for the company.

Jones founded Infowars in 1999. He has vowed to continue broadcasting using a different platform.

In a rambling video message posted on Thursday morning, Jones called the takeover a “total attack on free speech”.

“I don’t know what’s going to happen but I’m going to be here until they come in and turn the lights off,” he said. “This is the tyranny of the New World Order, desperate to silence the American people, the mandate of Trump against all the lawfare – they don’t care.”

The Onion plans to rebuild the website and feature well-known internet humour writers and content creators.

“We are planning on making it a very funny, very stupid website,” said Ben Collins, a former NBC News journalist who is chief executive of The Onion’s parent company, in a statement.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c30p1p0j0ddo