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Following his trial for defamation of the families of the children and school staff killed in the Sandy Hook massacre, conspiracy theorist Alex Jones is using Valve Corp.’s Steam, the world’s largest digital distribution platform for PC games, to sell an Infowars-themed video game. Jones claims to have earned hundreds of thousands in revenue from the video game, yet he has refused to pay the Sandy Hook families. Alex Jones: NWO Wars also mirrors and cartoonishly repackages the conspiracy theorist’s regularly violent, hateful rhetoric despite the platform’s policies against hate speech.

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[-] Honytawk@lemmy.zip 216 points 11 months ago

I mean, why aren't his assets seized and bank accounts frozen at this point?

Or is it only the poor that have to pay their fines?

[-] andros_rex@lemmy.world 51 points 11 months ago

The court is trying. He’s just playing a lot of games. Lots of the money is held by his parents or hidden in different shell companies. The court established that he and InfoWars are basically the same thing as far as the money is concerned, so he’s been trying to start new shows and businesses to further complicate things.

Court orders don’t automatically happen or always get enforced. Going through a divorce right now - lawyer told me that even if I do get an order that some of the shared debts are paid, he can just not. I’d have to go back to court and still get dinged on my credit.

[-] ynthrepic@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

If you're poor though they just put you in jail while they figure that stuff out. If they figure it out.

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[-] kava@lemmy.world 49 points 11 months ago

There are lots of ways to hide money and protect your assets, and many of them perfectly legal.

Lot of it stems from laws made to protect regular people in debt (bankruptcy laws, getting rid of debtors prison, etc) but people with money use them too

Imo it's a worthwhile price. Otherwise credit cards would just take money straight from your wages if they could.

[-] Daft_ish@lemmy.world 21 points 11 months ago

Not when one of his victims has terminal cancer and can't cash out because Jones is playing keep away through the courts.

[-] GreyEyedGhost@lemmy.ca 15 points 11 months ago

The problem is, shitty people are always going to abuse the laws. The goal, or at least the purported goal, is to minimize how many people get hurt when the law is abused.

[-] Pratai@lemmy.ca 36 points 11 months ago

Because America is entirely broken.

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[-] LinkOpensChest_wav@lemmy.dbzer0.com 109 points 11 months ago
[-] ClydapusGotwald@lemmy.world 103 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Valve allows a lot of games I’d question like the Kyle riddenhouse game or whatever that loser is that went across state borders to shoot people.

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[-] PopOfAfrica@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago

Not sure this is a valve problem. The courts are simply going to have to seize his assets.

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[-] PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

I mean, it’s just a game. The shitty part isn’t on Steam’s side; It’s on Alex hiding funds and refusing to pay for the lawsuits he lost.

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[-] Subverb@lemmy.world 91 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'll take this opportunity to plug a tiny podcast that I stumbled onto called "Some Dare Call it Conspiracy". It's hosted by two English guys that were hard-core conspiracy theorists for 15 years.

They now discuss, debunk and interview people around the conspiracy life. It's really fascinating to learn about Pizzagate, Chemtrails, Hunter Biden's Laptop and Jeffery Epstein from very knowledgeable people but in an environment of debunking.

Their latest episode is an interview with Rob Jacobson, a former staffer for Alex Jones that worked for him for 12 years. Jacobson ended up testifying against Jones in the Sandy Hook trial. The episode is on their Patreon at the moment but will roll out to the general public in a few days. Fascinating stuff and Jones is every bit as shady as one expects.

[-] ook_the_librarian@lemmy.world 36 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I'm a huge Knowledge Fight fan. And your recommendation sounds right up my alley.

KF is a podcast done "the dollop style" with the broadcasts of Alex Jones, both modern and years old episodes. Dan Freissen has listened to 1000s of hours infowars, has read None Dare Call It a Conspiracy (which is why the recommendation perked my ears), has read Protocols of the Elders of Zion, "you name it".

He shows how AJ's Globalizist conspiracy is just a reskinning of old antisemitic writings.

Dan was flown to Texas to help the lawyers of the Sandy Hook defamation trial. I can't say enough about how much I respect him.

Btw, by "the dollop style", I mean comedian Dan Friessen tells his findings to comedian Jordan Holmes who is naïve on the topic.

Edit: Knowledge Fight has zero ads. Never has. No paywalls. They have no interest in sensationalizing. It feels very honest.

I'll link the episode most inline with this article. #602 with Sandy Hook lead counsel Mark Bankston.

It seems like you folks like Behind the Bastards. They've been guests a few times. Here's one Part One: How The Rich Ate Christianity

Edit: I wanted to clarify the relevance of #602. That came out in 2021, right after the default judgement was issued in Texas. I believe the lawyers never gave interviews until that ruling. I listened back. It's a neat little time capsule. Just skip ahead until you hear Mark Bankston speak if it's your first taste.

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[-] stratoscaster@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

Thanks for the recommendation! I'm a huge Behind the Bastards fan, anything in that vein is super fascinating to me.

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[-] yesman@lemmy.world 63 points 11 months ago

Look, people need something to play after they've finished Hogwarts Legacy.

[-] Tarquinn2049@lemmy.world 20 points 11 months ago

What's up with Hogwarts legacy? It's one of the most progressive minded games I've ever played, so much so that J.K.Rowling herself tried to taint it by saying money that went to that game supported her views instead of the views in the game. Even though she doesn't get any residuals from sales. She tried to tank sales to get back at them for making an open minded game instead of one that aligns with her views.

[-] 4am@lemm.ee 42 points 11 months ago

Lots of TERFs and anti-LGBTQ+ knuckledraggers made it a point to “play wizard game to own the libs” after many people decided not to play it on grounds that, regardless of whether or not it directly supported JK Rowling, it certainly indirectly supports her by spotlighting Harry Potter.

Also, as you said, JK Rowling tried to fuck with it because she’s a pissed off TERF, and some people just want to distance themselves from that whole mess.

In other words, Hogwash Legacy became a virtue signal for the fragile snowflakes on the right to stand cucked in solidarity with their astroterf queen.

[-] Donkter@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Right... But how is that the games fault if it's a good game with a very progressive message? If anything you would want people on the right to be tricked into playing a game that supports what they fear.

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[-] K0W4LSK1@lemmy.dbzer0.com 51 points 11 months ago

Fun fact the game can be beaten in 45 minutes and steam refund policy allows returns on games played 2 hours or less

[-] thorbot@lemmy.world 109 points 11 months ago

That is a fun fact. Here's an ever funner fact: Don't give your money to assholes and then take it back. Just like, don't give it to them in the first place.

[-] PostaL@lemmy.world 28 points 11 months ago

True... But if you buy and return it you can give it a negative review?

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[-] YeetPics@mander.xyz 40 points 11 months ago

If you read the reviews for it, you can 100% beat the game in about 25-35 minutes and return it for a full refund. I was tempted to do that but I didn't want to enticed anyone else to buy it who may not play such a game on the devs.

[-] carl_dungeon@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

But then you could also review bomb it right?

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[-] ItsAFake@lemmus.org 37 points 11 months ago
[-] AeonFelis@lemmy.world 30 points 11 months ago

This article invests a lot of effort trying to make it look like it's all Steam's responsibility.

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[-] GoodbyeBlueMonday@startrek.website 29 points 11 months ago

Anyone know if it would it be worth reporting this as Defamatory on Steam? There are options for Legal Violation, Harmful, Fraud, Defamatory...without having played it it's hard to throw it in any of those specific categories, because they mostly have to do with the software itself, though Defamation might work since I'd be surprised if the content doesn't contain defamatory statements (even if they're wrapped in attempted irony for legal wiggle room).

[-] makyo@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

I flagged it as harmful because it isn't directly related to the defamation case. But I'm sure either gets your point across, and if Valve gets enough complaints maybe they'll actually realize they don't need a man criminally liable for misusing media, to benefit spreading media on their platform.

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[-] Zealousideal_Fox900@lemmy.world 28 points 11 months ago

Lock him up (for life, 0 chance of getting out), Access his bank accounts, pay out the damn families already, forget about him and let him rot in there.

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[-] protist@mander.xyz 24 points 11 months ago

If they know where money is coming from, aren't there legal mechanisms to take it directly from Valve?

[-] blazeknave@lemmy.world 22 points 11 months ago

Can't they just garnish his shit and empty his bank accounts?

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[-] bramblepatchmystery@slrpnk.net 20 points 11 months ago

My concern here is that these are not real sales and steam is allowing Jones to use their service for a poor attempt at laundering, but I suspect as a non user steam is already using services to ensure that the sales are coming from legitimate computers and cards.

[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 19 points 11 months ago

I do find it weird that Steam actually had this as a game pushed to me. Not sure if that was targeted due to other game choices I've made, but I saw the ad and laughed and shook my head.

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[-] unreasonabro@lemmy.world 16 points 11 months ago

Well I'm glad I didn't buy that, I didn't know he was actually associated with it financially. Figured it was the right kind of joke, not something tacky, tasteless, and stupid

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[-] CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world 15 points 11 months ago

What a dirtbag. I just had to explain to someone younger what that "infowars" sticker on someone's car means.

The TL;DR version is: "avoid that person".

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this post was submitted on 20 Jan 2024
915 points (97.2% liked)

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