Alex Jones is facing a hefty price tag for his claims about the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre -- $49.3 million in damages, and counting, for claiming the nation's deadliest school shooting was a hoax -- a punishing volley in a war against misinformation.
Last week's verdict was the first of three Sandy Hook-related cases against Jones to be decided.
"I think a lot of people are thinking of this as sort of a blow against fake news, and it's important to realize that libel law deals with a very particular kind of fake news," said Eugene Volokh, a First Amendment professor at the UCLA School of Law.
U.S. courts have long held that defamatory statements -- falsehoods damaging the reputation of a person or a business -- aren't protected as free speech, but falsehoods about other subjects, like science, history or the government, are. For example, saying covid-19 isn't real is not defamatory, but spreading lies about a doctor treating coronavirus patients is.
That distinction is why Jones, who attacked the parents of Sandy Hook victims and claimed the 2012 shooting was staged with actors to increase gun control, is being forced to pay up while Holocaust deniers, flat-earthers and vaccine skeptics are free to post their theories without much fear of a multimillion-dollar court judgment.
"Alex Jones was attacking individuals," said Stephen Solomon, a law professor and founding editor of New York University's First Amendment Watch. "And that's important. A lot of disinformation does not attack individuals."
Lawyers for the plaintiffs, the parents of one of 20 first-graders killed at the Connecticut school in 2012, said they hoped a big-money verdict against Jones would serve as a deterrent to him and others who peddle misinformation for profit.
"I am asking you to take the bullhorn away from Alex Jones and all of the others who believe they can profit off of fear and misinformation," Wesley Ball said Friday in his closing argument. "The gold rush of fear and misinformation must end, and it must end today."
Jones, who has since acknowledged that the shooting was real, has claimed his statements about Sandy Hook were protected by the First Amendment. He even showed up to court with "Save the 1st" scrawled on a piece of tape over his mouth.
But despite the public theatrics, Jones never got to make that argument in court. After Jones failed to comply with orders to hand over critical evidence, a judge entered a default judgment for the plaintiffs and skipped right to the punishment phase.
Jones' lawyer Andino Reynal told the jury during closing arguments that a large judgment would have a chilling effect on people seeking to hold governments accountable.
"You've already sent a message. A message for the first time to a talk show host, to all talk show hosts, that their standard of care has to change," Reynal told jurors.
Free speech experts say any chilling effect should be limited to people who wantonly disseminate false information, not journalists or other citizens making good-faith efforts to get at the truth of a matter.
"You have to look at this particular case and ask yourself, what exactly are you chilling?" Solomon said.
"The kind of speech that defames parents who have lost their children in a massacre is maybe the kind of speech you do want to deter. You do want to chill that speech," Solomon said. "That's the message that potentially the jury wanted to send here, that this is unacceptable in a civilized society."
As for Jones, Reynal said he isn't going away any time soon. He'll remain on the air while they appeal the verdict, one of the largest and highest-profile decisions in a defamation case in recent years.
"These kinds of damages and verdicts do have a chilling effect," Volokh said. "They're intended to have a chilling effect on lies that damage people's reputations."
Alex Jones arrives at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Tuesday Aug. 2, 2022. The father of a 6-year-old killed in the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting has testified that conspiracy theorist Alex Jones made his life a “living hell” by pushing claims the murders were a hoax. Neil Heslin testified Tuesday that he fears for his life because of Jones' claims. Heslin and Scarlett Lewis are the parents of 6-year-old Jesse Lewis. (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, asks Alex Jones questions about an illustration of Judge Maya Guerra Gamble, left, that InfoWars has been showing on air during a trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Texas, on Wednesday Aug. 3, 2022. (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Alex Jones takes a seat to testify in court at t the Travis County Courthouse, Wednesday Aug. 3, 2022, in Austin, Texas. (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP)
Conspiracy theorist Alex Jones attempts to answer questions about his emails asked by Mark Bankston, lawyer for Neil Heslin and Scarlett Lewis, during trial at the Travis County Courthouse in Austin, Wednesday Aug. 3, 2022. Jones testified Wednesday that he now understands it was irresponsible of him to declare the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre a hoax and that he now believes it was “100% real." (Briana Sanchez/Austin American-Statesman via AP, Pool)
FILE - In this July 12, 2022 file photo, a video showing Alex Jones is shown as the House select committee investigating the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol holds a hearing at the Capitol in Washington. An attorney representing two parents who sued Jones over his false claims about the Sandy Hook massacre says the U.S. House Jan. 6 committee has requested two years’ worth of records from Jones’ phone. Attorney Mark Bankston said in court Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022 that the committee investigating the attack on the U.S. Capitol has requested the digital records. (AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin, File)