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Comment by stuckinhell | Hacker News Reader

Jones runs a 9-figure media and supplements business that misappropriated and sold the memories of 20 children and the reputations of their parents to boost his numbers, and then refused to participate in the trial that established his culpability. He might be the least sympathetic corporate defendant in US history. Even the tobacco CEOs could reason that the science was overblown, and that the companies were protecting tens of thousands of jobs.

The biggest numbers I've seen were 8 figures (Rolling Stones published something suggesting 160 million over 3 years, while he was still on YouTube at his peak, which is 53 million a year), and that was for total revenue which to my understanding is debated as being too high. Jones himself is probably worth less than 10 million especially considering his share of InfoWars is now worthless

That seems unlikely, since Jones own bankruptcy filings show withdrawals from FSS in the high 8 figures.

Is that revenue or profit though? Withdrawing a lot of money doesn't mean anything if it is being spent on product and other costs.

Withdrawals here meaning "Alex Jones and his family withdrawing money from the company". In an LLC, you'd call these "distributions".

> This will only send the signal to millions of people, that the establishment wants to shut Alex down for speaking the truth.

FTA:

"Jones ... argued for years that the massacre was a "staged" government plot to take guns from Americans and that "no one died."...He now acknowledges the attack was "100% real", a concession he made in August at a separate defamation trial in Texas."

> the establishment wants to shut Alex down for speaking the truth.

For speaking the "truth" that Sandy Hook was a false flag operation? No, he is being held liable for the effects of his broadcasting that lie.

The courts determined there was no “truth” whatsoever in what Alex jones spouts in his bouts of verbal diarrhea.

It could've been a ruling for 50c and a pack of chewing gum and the same folks would object to it. It's not about the amount.

> A reasonable sum

Is there any point to reasoning with the people who believe Alex Jones' absurd lies about Newtown?

> the establishment wants to shut Alex down for speaking the truth.

What truth did Jones speak?

The full quote is

> This will only send the signal to millions of people, that the establishment wants to shut Alex down for speaking the truth.

I don't think OP is arguing Alex Jones spoke any truths per say, he's arguing that's how it'll be interpreted by his supporters.

Genuinely, do you have an idea how to correct people who are convinced that down is up?

So most people I know who do a dramatic 180 hit a breaking point.

For all that the inaccurate "boiling a frog" metaphor describes how things work fairly well, a lot of people hit a wall at some point -- for instance, when "those people are bad" becomes "your best friend Joe is bad" -- and rebound. Once they hit that breaking point, the scales have fallen, and they begin re-examining everything.

This happens both with people raised in a particular worldview, as they gain experiences outside their original upbringing, and to people who fall into a cult, as the cult gradually ratchets up the craziness.

Of course, not everyone ever finds such a breaking point, and trying to push someone to find a lever to crack open their worldview antagonistically usually just makes someone double down, but a lot of people do find their way out.

Analysis of their financials showed that, on good days, Jones' show would bring in $800K/day.

Obviously that doesn't mean they have a billion in assets, but it does speak to how large their operation is.

Apple and other large businesses get fined nowhere near what they have in assets.... no matter how bad their actions are. One billion is just crazy in this case...

Because Apple is not inflammatory in the court. You cannot go into a court and behave poorly, especially in the a case covering murdered children and expect a jury not to punish you to the full extent of their capabilities.

The ALAB podcast has a fun theory on the subject that while ostensibly your success in court is a matter of law and procedure, but the underlying test you've got to pass is "who's the asshole here?". Because the judge is going to decide which party is the asshole at some point, and part of the job of lawyers is to make sure it's not them and their clients.

On the other hand, Gawker network was completely obliterated for copyright infringement over the Hulk Hogan thing. That seems more disproportionate than this.

Not sure about that case, but yeah copyright laws are also nuts.

> That is an unreasonable sum

I disagree. Many of these families need security and barriers to prevent Alex Jones' fans from attacking them. A lot of folks were impacted by his outrageous claims.

> To put it into perspective, the top 100 biggest company fines in the world start at around 1 billion (give or take 200mil).

Fines for companies doing wrong are far too small.

> Alex Jones is NOT the same as some of the biggest companies in the world.

InfoWars store alone generated 165 million in 3 years time. They pull in a lot of cash. And this penalty should prevent him from ever running a media business again, or it has failed.

> the establishment wants to shut Alex down for speaking the truth.

ah :(

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